Punjab Prisons authorities at Adiala blinked only after federal paramilitary units arrived on the scene to help quell resistance to the order by force if necessary.
By Naveed Naqvi
RAWALPINDI: Punjab Prisons authorities finally handed over the custody of Shahbaz Gill, the chief of staff of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to Islamabad police for further investigation pursuant to a court order after keeping the investigators waiting for hours.
The compliance, however, came only after Rangers and Frontier Constabulary units arrived outside Rawalpindi Central Jail at Adiala Wednesday evening, signalling the federal authorities’ readiness to use force to overcome resistance if necessary.
The Islamabad Capital Territory team of investigators transported the detainee to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for medical assessment of his health, and for any required treatment, news networks reported late in the evening.
EARLIER: Allegedly under pressure from former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Prisons authorities here were seen resisting a Sessions Court order Wednesday to hand Shahbaz Gill back to Islamabad police for further investigation.
Under arrest on charges including incitement to mutiny in the armed forces, Gill was being held at Rawalpindi Central Jail, Adiala, on judicial remand after the Sessions court declined a police request earlier this week to extend his physical remand for further investigation.
Federal authorities challenged that order in the Islamabad High Court, which ordered Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry the other day to revisit the case as the police plea she had found in admissible was admissible.
Judge Chaudhry heard the matter Wednesday and agreed with the police request for further custody of Gill, the chief of staff of the former Prime Minister, granting the investigators two days of further custody.
Pursuant to the Sessions Judge’s order, Duty Judicial Magistrate of Islamabad issued an extradition order for the return of Gill to federal investigators’ custody.
The court issued a warrant to the Superintendent of Adiala Jail, ordering him to hand over the accused to the Principal Investigating Officer Sub-Inspector Talat Mehmood, who reached the Central Jail at the head of a contingent of Islamabad Capital Territory Police.
However, well-placed sources tell Independent Pakistan that as soon as the Islamabad Sessions Judge’s order broke, Imran Khan jumped into action, building pressure on Prisons authorities to immediately transfer Shahbaz Gill to a hospital in Rawalpindi on spurious health grounds.
According to sources, after the remand order of the court, Imran Khan asked the jail authorities to immediately transfer Shahbaz Gill to a hospital in Rawalpindi.
The Prisons authorities pushed back by saying Gill was a federal detainee held in judicial custody in Islamabad, and they had no authority to resist the court order.
However, Khan prevailed upon them with the help of Punjab government, headed by Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, an ally of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The upshot was that by the time the Islamabad police contingent arrived to take Gill into custody, the Prison’s doctor had already completed paperwork to transfer the accused to Rawalpindi District Headquarters Hospital on grounds of illness.
The paperwork says Gill was admitted to the jail hospital with “a history of shortness of breath along with cough”, and that “today he developed sudden worsening of shortness of breath”. It requests the authorities to “arrange special police guard for shifting to District Head Quarters Hospital Rawalpindi on 17.08.2022, on emergency basis”.
Investigators have said in their court pleadings that they need further custody of Gill to find out who besides him was part of the alleged conspiracy to incitement to mutiny in the armed forces.
They claim the accused delivered his offending televised remarks reading from a pre-written script, which was likely drafted with help and guidance.
Our sources say Khan fears any evidence the investigators may unearth may lead back to him, which is why he is wary of his chief spokesman going back in investigative custody.
The former Prime Minister is himself on the record saying Gill’s arrest is part of a “conspiracy” to taint him. Earlier this week, he alleged his aide had been subjected to sever torture in jail – a charge Punjab Interior Minister Hashim Dogar forcefully denied after meeting Gill in the jail.
Gill himself accused the investigators of torturing him in a court hearing earlier, but a court-ordered medical examination had given a lie to his claims.
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