{"id":884,"date":"2023-09-01T16:25:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/atc-dismisses-qureshis-bail-application-in-two-cases-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T16:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:25:15","slug":"atc-dismisses-qureshis-bail-application-in-two-cases-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/atc-dismisses-qureshis-bail-application-in-two-cases-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"ATC dismisses Qureshi\u2019s bail application in two cases | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nISLAMABAD:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday dismissed former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi\u2019s application for interim bail\u00a0and exemption for the court appearance.<\/p>\n

The court dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)\u00a0vice chairman’s\u00a0interim bail in two cases registered against him\u00a0at the Kahna police station\u00a0over a no-show.<\/p>\n

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain announced the decision after hearing arguments from both sides.<\/p>\n

Qureshi\u2019s counsel Ali Bukhari had\u00a0filed two different pleas seeking a day exemption from court appearance and a\u00a0summon notice for his client as currently he is in jail in a cypher case.\u00a0He had also moved the court to extend Qureshi’s interim bail.<\/p>\n

Read <\/strong>Qureshi sent on 14-day judicial remand in cypher case<\/a><\/p>\n

During the hearing, the prosecutor requested the court to reject Qureshi’s bail application. Bukhari advocated that his client was “not absent intentionally, but he has been sent to jail <\/a>on\u00a0court orders”.<\/p>\n

“A judge has to judge by looking at the whole picture,” he said.<\/p>\n

He maintained that he was not asking for “extraordinary relief” for his client\u00a0but an exemption from attendance.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the prosecutor said that the Supreme Court has made the presence of the accused for bail before arrest mandatory. The PTI vice chairman’s counsel said that if “he was intentionally absent, then the bail could be dismissed”.<\/p>\n

The court reserved the decision after hearing arguments from both parties.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, the court rejected Qureshi’s interim bail application and also dismissed pleas seeking exemption and summon. It said that the law requires the presence of the accused for bail before arrest.<\/p>\n

The former minister\u00a0is currently in Adiala jail on a judicial remand in the missing\u00a0cypher case registered under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n