LAHORE: On Monday, the Lahore High Court took a significant step by issuing a non-bailable arrest warrant for the Inspector-General of Islamabad police. This action was taken due to the IG’s failure to produce former Chief Minister Parvez Elahi before the court, despite a previous court order. The warrant was issued by Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf during a hearing related to a petition filed by Parvez Elahi’s wife. Notably, the Attock DPO and the Rawalpindi CPO appeared before the court as ordered, but the IG did not.
During the proceedings, Justice Rauf pointed out to the DPO and the CPO that this was their second appearance in court. Both officers had already submitted their responses to the show-cause notice issued by the court. Justice Rauf then inquired about the whereabouts of the IG, asking the public prosecutor where he was. The prosecutor stated that the IG had responded to the show-cause notice. The judge expressed his concern, emphasizing that the court had summoned the IG and expected his presence, indicating that the official seemed to be taking the court orders lightly. Initially, the court had issued a bailable arrest warrant in a more lenient approach.
In response to the IG’s absence, the public prosecutor mentioned that the IG had official commitments in Islamabad. The judge then questioned how the IG intended to appear before the court. Subsequently, the court decided to escalate the matter by issuing a non-bailable arrest warrant for the IG.
Furthermore, the court took additional actions by issuing a contempt of court notice to the SP responsible for not executing the previously issued bailable arrest warrant against the IG. Additionally, the court expressed strong dissatisfaction over the Attock Jail superintendent’s failure to appear and issued a bailable arrest warrant for him as well.
