PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday disposed of a petition filed by an imprisoned former policeman and activist of Bannu Amn Pasoon (peace uprising) after the provincial government informed it that two cases were registered against him by Counter-Te rrorism Department (CTD) in Peshawar and Bannu.A bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Wiqar Ahmad observed that the petitioner, Jamshed Khan, could approach relevant courts to get bail in those cases.

The bench made it clear that the arrest of the petitioner should be in both the cases as in one of its earlier judgements it had ruled that arrest of an accused should be in all the cases registered against him and shouldn`t be re-arrested once set free on bail.

The petitioner, who was sent to prison on Oct 23 by an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar, had sought directives of PHC for law enforcement agencies to provide information about the criminal cases registered against him so that he could approachrelevant courts.

The petitioner was arrested by CTD on multiple charges of sedition and inciting police officials to rebellion etc. He was initially remanded into custody of CTD for 15 days by the ATC on Oct 14.

However, due to his precarious health condition CTD requested the court to end his physical custody and instead send him to prison. The CTD officials claimed that the suspect was suffering from brain tumour.

Advocate Bashir Khan Wazir appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was initially arrested in Sept on the orders of the Bannu deputy commission under Section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and was sent to Haripur prison.He said that early last month, the Bannu bench of Peshawar High Court had accepted his plea and ordered hisrelease.

However, CTD arrested him in connection with an FIR registered against him in Peshawar on Sept 23, 2024 under different provisions of Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.

CTD claimed that he was involved in inciting police personneltorise againstthe state, defaming state institutions on social media and waging war againstthe country etc.

He pointed out that the health condition of the petitioner was not good. He stated that within three days of getting his physical custody, CTD had again produced him in ATC requesting to cancel hispolice custody and he should be sent to prison.

He said that they had come to know that another case had been registered against him in Bannu and police intended to re-arrest him once he was set free on bail in the instant case.

He added that re-arresting an accused after his release was violation of the high court`s earlier order.

An additional advocate general, Numanul Haq Kakakhel, informed the court that presently there were two cases against the petitioner, one registered by CTD in Peshawar and another one in Bannu.

It is pertinent to mention that the suspect was an active member of the `peace movement` launched in Bannu district and was very vocal on social media.