Verdict reserved on plea for Haleem Adil’s physical remand

karachi: A sessions court on Saturday reserved its verdict on an application of the Anti-Encroachment Force (AEF) seeking physical remand of Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh in a case pertaining to alleged land grabbing.

On Aug 29, AEF authorities had taken Sheikh into custody moments after he was released on bail in a terrorism case. They presented him before a judicial magistrate next day and requested his physical remand for interrogation, but their plea was turned down. Subsequently, AEF officials approached the sessions court for the purpose.

On Saturday, the matter came up before Additional District and Sessions Judge-V Mushtri Khanum, who reserved the verdict on the application after hearing arguments from both defence and prosecution sides. He will likely announce the verdict on Sept 5, Monday, according to Sheikh’s counsel Malik Altaf Hussain.

The state prosecutor argued that Sheikh was facing charges of illegally occupying 25 acres of state land, which was a crime punishable with imprisonment of ten years. He said the accused had not been in police custody in the case for even one day and pleaded with the judge to grant his physical remand.

On the other hand, the defence counsel opposed the remand plea, stating that the opposition leader was booked in the present case with a mala fide intention just to punish him for being an outspoken critic of the provincial government.

According to the AEF, Sheikh and 10 other people were allegedly illegally allotted 25 acres of state land for a cooperative housing society in Scheme 33, where they set up a cattle pen and warehouses. They were issued notices under the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Act, 2010 to vacate the land in question, but they didn’t do so.