A three member bench of the Supreme court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the case, where the Federal government’s immediate plea seeking relief against the release of Omar Sheikh was not granted.
Moreover, the Sindh government has also been barred from issuing a fresh detention order. Justice Bandial posed a question to the government saying, “How can they detain a citizen just like that?”
Mehmood A Sheikh, the lawyer of Ahmed Omar Sheikh is not well, the assistant lawyer stated, adding that they would seek adjournment for a week.
“We’d like to listen to this case, this matter pertains to a citizen,’ announced Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
Mahmood Sheikh’s assistant lawyer said that Omar Sheikh had been incarcerated illegally for ten months. Justice Bandial stated that he would review the arrest of Omar Sheikh and explore the renewal of the order.
“Explain the reason to us,” said Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, asking why Omer Sheikh hadn’t yet been released.
“The Sindh High Court, without hearing me, gave a one sided verdict. This is enough of a reason to scrap down the SHC verdict,” said the Attorney General, adding that he wanted to present detailed arguments in the case.
“The verdict of SHC should be suspended,” he added.
Justice Shah proceeded to question the SHC, asking “how can we believe that the SHC did not issue notice to the Attorney General?’
“How can we suspend the verdict without looking at the Sindh High Court order sheet?’ announced Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.
Justice Bandial announced that the Sindh High Court’s verdict would not be suspended, adding that the case could not be adjourned for one week either.
‘The accused in this case are not at the rostrum of justice but rather at the rostrum of the government,” said Justice Bandial.
The Attorney General stated that as per the Supreme Court’s directives, the Federal government was to be issued notices. “If the verdict on the release of Omar Sheikh is not suspended, it would have dire consequences overall with international implications,” he added.
Justice Shah questioned the expiration of the arrest order, to which the Sheikh’s assistant lawyer responded with a date.
“The arrest order expired on December 1,” he said.
Justice Shah, addressing the Attorney General, said that he was not a party in the case.
“We have fixed the case to hear Omar Sheikh’s lawyer,” he added.
Justice Bandial asked, in court, why a citizen has been kept under arrest.
The court seeks order sheets to assess whether the Attorney General was issued notices by the SHC. The case has been adjourned until tomorrow.
The Sindh government had filed a review petition in the Daniel Pearl murder case before the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan. The review petition had been filed against the SC’s order of January 28, 2021, which called for the immediate release of Omer Sheikh, the prime accused in the kidnapping and murder case of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
