Malik Riaz case: SC throws out all ‘fake cases’ against man ‘framed’ by Malik Riaz

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Complainant in ‘fake cases’ provided air tickets to Karachi police to make arrest in Islamabad

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: Declaring all cases against him “false and concocted”, a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench on Tuesday ordered the release of Malik Tabarik Hussain – the man held by police for the murder of Bahria Town security guard Faiz Ahmad – against a surety bond of Rs 500,000.

The SC had ordered the arrest of Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz Hussain for Faiz’s murder on Monday, while conducting suo moto hearing on an appeal that appeared in newspapers. Tabarik was arrested by Karachi police from Islamabad and the court observed that law enforcement officials had not fulfilled the necessary legal requirements before arresting Hussain. The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, however, directed Kohsar police to hold Hussain until he furnished the surety bond. Tabarik was brought to court by Karachi SSP (Investigation) Niaz Khoso and Sohrab Goth Investigation Officer Aneel Khushk.

Aneel informed the bench that Tabarik was charged under sections 324, 427 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code in an FIR registered at Sohrab Goth police station on October 16, 2009. The court, after examining the case records, maintained that the FIR was false and the entire case “concocted and designed”.

Air tickets: During the course of the hearing, it was also revealed that the complainant in these cases, Zaheer Ahmed, had provided air tickets to the police party that arrested and moved Tabarik to Karachi. It was also revealed that when police raided Tabarik’s house in Islamabad’s Sector E-7, they were accompanied by dozens of Frontier Constabulary personnel, and after the arrest, Tabarik was detained at FC offices for some time before being moved to Karachi. Tabarik told the court that his 14-year-old son was beaten up by police when he was arrested, and also accused the Investigation Officer Aneel Khushk of taking a Rolex wristwatch from him. The bench was, however, surprised to learn that another case was registered against Tabarik under sections 337, 148 and 149 of the PPC in Karachi in 2003, and that he had been declared an absconder.

At this, Justice Jawwad Khawaja noted that Tabarik had contested the February 2008 general elections as an independent candidate from NA-49 Islamabad and secured over 10,000 votes. He asked the police officials why Tabarik was not arrested earlier if he had been declared an absconder. Justice Khawaja also asked police representatives, as well as Sindh Additional Prosecutor General Saleem Akhtar, to explain why they had not intervened during the scrutiny of Tabarik’s nomination papers. Sardar Asmatullah Khan, counsel for Tabarik’s wife Anjum Riaz, told the court that Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz Hussain was behind the “false cases” registered against his client’s husband.

Asmatullah said Tabarik planned to bring several people – who had been victimised by the Bahria Town chairman – to the Supreme Court on October 26. However, Malik Riaz, using his influence, had Tabarik booked and imprisoned. He alleged that Malik Riaz had illegally acquired thousands of kanals of land from the poor in the areas of Rawat and Sihala at throwaway prices, adding that Riaz had got registered false criminal cases registered against hundreds of such individuals at the Rawat, Sihala, Sadar Bairooni and Civil Lines police stations, just to get his hands on their land.

He maintained that Malik Riaz also wanted to acquire a piece of land owned by Tabarik, and had him arrested when the latter refused to sell. Asmatullah also informed the court that Malik Riaz had recently obtained a decree from an Islamabad civil judge, giving him ownership of over 7,000 kanals of land along the Murree Expressway, and then sold the land to the Defence Housing Authority for Rs 3 billion. After hearing the counsel’s arguments, the court had his contentions against Malik Riaz added to the case record and directed Tabarik to approach the Islamabad’s session judge, who is conducting an inquiry into the matter, for redress of his grievances. The court also ordered SSP Niaz Khoso to take action against the police officials responsible for Tabarak’s wrongful arrest and submit a report to the SC Registrar.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_10