Imran Khan’s focal person Hassaan Niazi arrested outside Islamabad ATC

Hassaan Niazi arrested for resisting at police checkpost, police say.

Imran Khan’s focal person Hassaan Niazi arrested outside Islamabad ATC. Hassaan Niazi, the focal person of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on legal affairs, was arrested Monday outside an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad, police officials told Geo News.

Niazi has been arrested for resisting at a police checkpost, the police said.

Advocate Faisal Chaudhry has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the release of the PTI leader. The petition stated that “police abducted Hasaan Niazi from the premises of Judical Complex after he obtained bail in a case.”

Niazi was arrested after his appearance at the ATC where hearing of cases registered — in the Raman police station in Islamabad — against PTI leaders and workers was being held.

ATC judge Raja Jawad Abbas was hearing the cases.

The party’s leaders present at the court included Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub, Raja Khurram, Aamir Mehmood Kiani, and Farrukh Habib, among others.

All of the aforementioned leaders as well as the party’s workers have been booked under terrorism charges for the violence that erupted outside the judicial complex on Saturday where Khan appeared to have his non-bailable arrest warrants in the Toshakhana case cancelled.

PTI workers, on Saturday, clashed with police and caused damage to public property. They also set fire to 10 police motorcycles outside the judicial complex and overturned a police officer’s car.

When the ousted premier — whose government was sent home following a no-confidence motion last April — arrived at the judicial complex after the stipulated time, the clashes forced him to leave the premises of the complex.

Faraz, who has also been booked for terrorism, arrived at the court today while seated on a wheelchair.

The police had gone to arrest the PTI leader at his residence a day earlier.

The court has approved bail applications of PTI leaders Farrukh Habib, Raja Khurram, Shibli Faraz, Asad Qaiser, Aamir Mehmood Kiani, Murad Saeed, Muhammad Asim, Hammad Azhar, Ghulam Sarwar, and Hassaan Niazi as well.

The bail applications have been approved till April 3 against surety bonds worth Rs50,000.

During the hearing of the cases, the ATC judge remarked: “There are so many suspects that [we] will have to check the history back and forth.”

More From FactFile:Court suspends Imran Khan’s warrants in Toshakhana case after hours-long chaos

Hassaan Niazi “abducted”

Meanwhile, the PTI claims that Khan’s focal person on legal affairs has been “abducted” by Superintendent of Police Nosherwan Ali Chandio, despite securing bail on all cases registered against him.

“It is the peak of police brutality. Hassaan Niazi, a lawyer whose bail was just approved by the court, has been abducted,” the party tweeted.

“Barrister @HniaziISF has been abducted illegally by @ICT_Police’s SP Nausherwan despite being on bail. We condemn this fascism and demand his immediate release,” the Insaf Lawyers Forum tweeted.

The forum demanded that the country’s chief justice take notice of this “blatant violation of laws.

“The Rule of Law in Pakistan stands suspended,” the tweet read.

PTI leader Farrukh Habib wrote that the police were deployed on both sides of the ATC, so that “they could arrest” them.

“According to lawyers, the police repeatedly said that they have received special orders to pick up Hassaan Niazi and Farrukh Habib. The lawyers informed me about their intentions; I dodged them and escaped after securing bail,” he wrote on Twitter.

PTI Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry, taking to Twitter, called Niazi’s arrest “unacceptable”.

“Arrest of @HniaziISF is unacceptable, he has been arrested from Court premises despite bail call upon ILF lawyers and Bar Associations to join in protest,” Fawad wrote in his tweet.

Condemning the development, the party’s secretary general Asad Umar said that the Constitution seems suspended following Niazi’s arrest.

“Hassaan Niazi has been arrested despite getting bail from the court. The Constitution now appears to be suspended,” his tweet read.