Dr Asim a prisoner of conscience: CM

November 3, 2016
 |  22,827 Comments
Front1

WILL BE RELEASED SOON: MURAD

By Nasir Mahmood

KARACHI: Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah yesterday visited former petroleum minister Dr. Asim Hussain here at the Jinnah Hospital. Shah termed Dr Asim Hussain a “prisoner of conscience” and added that the federal government has kept Dr Asim under custody for the last year and a half. In an informal talk with the media, the CM said that those who had created problems for the former PPP minister are in truoble themselves “Dr. Asim Hussain has always served the masses.” The minister said that Dr Asim will soon get bail in all the fake cases as “I believe in fairness and transparency of the court.” According to details, Sindh chief minister visited Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital and met Dr. Asim Hussain and inquired about his health. He also congratulated Asim Hussain over being granted bail in a case regarding provision of treatment to terrorists and criminals at his hospital. Meanwhile, some independent news channels reported quoting the CM hoped that Dr Asim Hussain will be acquitted soon. On Tuesday a bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) had granted bail to ex-federal minister Dr Asim Hussain. Besides Dr Asim, MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui, Pak Sarzameen Party’s Anis Qaimkhani and Pasban’s Usman Moazzam were also granted bail, after submitting surety of Rs500,000 each. A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Abdul Malik Gaddi, also ordered the suspects to deposit their valid passports in the anti-terrorism court (ATC) and forbade them from leaving the country without its permission. In its short order, the bench observed: “Though under the law, it is responsibility of the learned trial court to proceed on a day-to-day basis and conclude the trial within seven days but, in this case, all the learned counsel, including counsel for the complainant and special prosecutor, informed that even (a single) charge has not been framed so far. Therefore, the learned trial court is directed to conclude trial within two months.” However, the judges clarified that this direction does not mean to extend the statutory period already provided under the law but since considerable period of time has lapsed without any progress in the trial, therefore, two months’ time is granted to decide the case.

Updates