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07-03-2024
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
ISLAMABAD: A court in Pakistan is set to hear the bail petition of Aliya Hamza Malik, a former parliamentarian who has been in jail for nearly 10 months for protesting against the arrest of her Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Nationwide street protests had erupted in Pakistan after Khan was briefly arrested over corruption charges on May 9 last year, days after he lost a confidence vote in parliament.
Khan’s supporters, furious with his sacking, which they alleged was orchestrated by his political rivals and the powerful military, stormed government buildings and military installations on May 9 to protest against his arrest.
The deadly demonstrations had killed at least 12 people and led to the arrest of hundreds of PTI leaders and supporters, some of them still in custody.
Malik, 46, was accused of setting fire to a police station in the eastern city of Lahore, the country’s second largest, during the protest. She was also charged with attacking the residence of a military commander, called Jinnah House, in the same city.
Malik denied both accusations. In January, she was able to secure bail in the Jinnah House case.
The bail hearing scheduled in the Lahore High Court on Wednesday on the case related to the attack on the police station will be the fifth since her arrest.
“One time the prosecutor was on holiday. In the past three hearings, the investigator said he did not bring the evidentiary record. Once the judge was on leave,” her husband Hamza told media.
“We hope this time she can finally be released and come home to be reunited with her family.”
Malik’s ordeal began on the evening of May 10, 2023, a day after the protests as the government launched an unprecedented crackdown on PTI, the main opposition party.
She was home with her family in Lahore when she heard a sudden and persistent pounding on her front door.
Moments later, nearly a dozen police officers, some in plain clothes, broke the door and barged in, waving guns and sticks. For the next 10 minutes, the all-male contingent ransacked the home, shattering the mirrors and breaking cabinets and TV sets.
Their phones, laptops and even air pods were seized, with the raid ending with Malik’s arrest, Hamza said, all without an arrest or search warrant.
“They basically abducted her, with guns pointed at our three teenage daughters and my mother,” he said, adding that no male member of the family was present at the time.
“If this can happen to a high-profile ex-parliamentarian, then imagine what a common man with little resources must be going through.”
