Malik Ishaque's detention ends - Dawn
A provincial review board, comprising three judges of the Lahore High Court, on Monday ended detention of Malik Ishaq, leader of a banned outfit, after the Punjab government opted to withdraw appeal for extension to his confinement.
The Punjab special secretary home and other officials produced Ishaq before the board amid strict security as a heavy police contingent was deployed on the high court premises. The board, comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan and Justice Abdul Sami Khan, held in-camera proceedings.
The government’s counsel requested the board to extend Ishaq’s detention for further three months in the wake of the Peshawar school massacre. He argued that the release of Ishaq would be a risk to law and order as he was known for delivering hate speeches at religious gatherings.
An insider said Malik Ishaq contested the government’s arguments and told the board that the allegation of delivering provoking speeches was baseless.
The board observed the government had failed to produce convincing evidence in support of its arguments.
Anticipating an adverse decision by the board, the secretary opted to withdraw the appeal and the board dismissed the appeal as withdrawn, ending the detention of Ishaq.
The review board had, on Sept 25, extended the detention of Ishaq for three months. The government had detained him in July this year under maintenance of public order (MPO) declaring him a risk to the law and order. His detention was due to end on Dec 25.
I have already posted the following before, but no harm in recalling.
Malik Ishaque was in jail until c. 2011 though he has been acquitted in 34 cases and given bail in the remaining 10 cases. He was released after the Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jama’at (i.e., SSP) chief, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, a close ally of the PML-N, negotiated a secret deal with him on behalf of the Punjab Government. He spent 14 years facing charges related to murder and other terrorist acts. While in jail, he was given a stipend by the Punjab Government and also provided with a cellphone. He was set free in July 2011 but was detained under ‘house arrest’ which was only in name because he was freely moving about with impunity. The State has extended his detention in the ‘interests of public order’ under the ‘Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance’. However, on Jan. 20, 2012, the Review Board of the Lahore High Court refused to detain him any further under ‘house arrest’ and set him free. On the very same day, he was nominated in an FIR registered against his alleged involvement in the recent Khanpur blast killing 18 Shias. He has been accused in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, twin assassination attempts on Gen. Musharraf in c. 2003, murder of the MQM MPA Raza Haider and the Mastung massacre and the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore on Mar. 3, 2009. After a series of attacks on Hazara Shi’as in Quetta (Jan 10, 2013 killing over 80, Feb. 16, 2013 killing nearly 100), Malik Ishaque was again arrested for giving ‘hate speech’ and again under ‘Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance’. In February 2014, the US State Department designated Malik Ishaque as a ‘global terrorist’.
Or to be ijjlamic the tumbrill gets closer and closer to the guillotine. And Bakis have not done a single "right step" to this day. For doing so, they need to think clearly on how to take everyone along with them, and Malsi prevents them from thinking clearly and also from uniting without the use of mass murder.