ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi has rejected
a police request for the physical remand of Pakistan Muslim League –
Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Anjum Aqeel and sent him on a 14-day judicial remand.
Aqeel was presented in court (Monday) after his one-day transit
remand expired. During the hearing, the police had requested that Aqeel
be handed over on physical remand. The police wanted to keep him in
custody and conduct the inquiry at the police station.
The
court sent the PML-N leader on a judicial remand and he will be
presented in court on July 31. Aqeel is being charged under Section
780-A of the Anti-Terrorism Act, a non-bailable offence, and not under
the Pakistan Penal Code.
Speaking to the media outside court,
Aqeel claimed he was innocent and that he was being blackmailed and
victimised. He said he himself surrendered before the court and he can
not even think to break the law. He claimed he was forcibly freed by
his supporters.
He said he is being victimized by federal
government because it is afraid of PML-N popularity in federal cabinet
and wanted to grab his seat. He said he would resign from his seat
whenever asked by Party leadership. Replying to a question, he said, he
was not tortured by Police but he used to sleep at ground in Jail.
A
number of PML-N workers had gathered outside court and raised slogans
in favour of the MNA. Earlier this morning, Aqeel was shifted back to
Shalimar Police Station from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
(PIMS) Hospital, where he had been taken for medical examination.
Aqeel
has been accused of involvement in the Rs6 billion National Police
Foundation land scam and was arrested on Friday. Yet within hours of
his arrest, he was forcibly freed by as many as 30 armed men,
purportedly party workers, who laid siege to Shalimar police station in
Islamabad. The parliamentarian claims he turned himself in to the
police on Saturday, though the police insisted they arrested him.
Police officials claim that they arrested him while he was on his way
to the Islamabad Press Club to hold a news conference. Aqeel is one of
Islamabad’s four representatives in the National Assembly. Online
