IHC summons Islamabad SSP over PTI harassment petition

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has summoned the capital's senior superintendent of police (operations) to appear in person on September 24 in response to a petition alleging that police are raiding homes and harassing leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ahead of the party's long march to the capital.

Justice Raja Inaam Ameen Minhas issued the summons while hearing the petition, according to Dawn. The petition names PTI leaders as petitioners. Dawn reported that Malik Aamir Dogar and Shoaib Shaheen were among those who filed the petition, while ARY News identified the petitioner as Malik Amir Ali and others.

ARY News reported that the court also issued an order restraining police from arresting PTI leaders Malik Amir Ali, Shoaib Shaheen and others while their harassment complaints are heard. The court acted ahead of the PTI's long march protest call for September 27.

Shoaib Shaheen, who is also a lawyer, appeared in court with Riasat Azad on behalf of the petitioners. According to ARY News, Shaheen argued that police had begun arrests and raids before the long march, and that raids were being conducted at party workers' homes and valuables were taken away during those raids. He told the court that raids could not be carried out without authority and asked it to restrain Islamabad Police from violating the sanctity of privacy.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Association has separately claimed that police were intimidating and detaining members of the legal fraternity, Dawn reported.

The court summoned the SSP Operations in his personal capacity and directed that the petitioners should not be arrested or harassed until the next hearing, ARY News reported. The matter is scheduled for September 24.