PHC grants interim bail to former PTI minister Anwar Zeb

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC), on Friday, granted interim bail to the former provincial minister of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Anwar Zeb Khan, in a case implicating him for an alleged breach of Section 144.

The Additional Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) suggested the petitioner should have approached the sessions court in his native district of Bajaur, prompting the PHC to direct him to appear there by 4 September.

However, this is not the first time the former minister has stirred controversy.

Previous controversies

The Bajaur sessions court is hearing a case registered against him after a video went viral last November. In the video, he is seen brandishing a Kalashnikov at a public gathering and threatening the then interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, with grave consequences.

اس کے خلاف کوئی ایکشن؟
رانا ثنا اللہ ہم اسلام آرہے ہیں
صوبائی وزیر زکوٰۃ انور زیب خان کا جلسے میں بندوق اٹھا کر @RanaSanaullahPK کو پیغام pic.twitter.com/8tCystEiwd

— صحرانورد (@Aadiiroy2) November 3, 2022

“Hear me out, Rana Sanaullah. We are coming to Islamabad armed,” he says in the video, with his son Sikander Zeb also visible by his side.

A separate video of Sikander went viral following the 9 May incident, where he is seen participating in an assault on the General Headquarters (GHQ). The video depicts him standing outside the GHQ, criticising the arrest of PTI’s chairman as a betrayal of the party’s leadership and workers. No case has been registered against him so far.

سابق صوبائی وزیر برائے حج و اوقاف انور زیب خان پچھلے سال تقریر میں بندوق لہرا کر اسلام آباد پر چڑھائی کی دھمکیاں دے رہے تھے۔
ان کے بیٹے سکندر زیب نے جی ایچ کیو کے سامنے ان کا خواب شرمندہ تعبیر کر دکھایا۔
پی ٹی آئی کی خواتین کو تو پکڑا جا رہا ہے جبکہ اصل غنڈے دندناتے پھر رہے ہیں pic.twitter.com/5KjcaKGyv6

— Faysal Chaudary (@Faysal_Chaudary) May 18, 2023

Read more: Official secrets act: PTI Chairman could face upto 14 year imprisonment in Cipher case

Raids

Authorities in Bajaur raided Khan’s residence seeking his detention, but the former PTI minister from KP was not found there. Nevertheless, he has attended public gatherings and even a widely covered press conference in Peshawar with former Chief Ministers (CM) Pervez Khattak and Mehmood Khan. He later denied leaving the PTI, labelling the reports as rumours.

Zeb subsequently asserted that the 3 MPO arrest case against him had been dismissed and that no current charges were pending against him.

Due to last month’s explosion at a JUI workers’ convention in Bajaur and a deteriorating security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Interior Ministry initiated a province-wide ban on all political and social assemblies without prior administrative clearance. To prevent disturbances on 14 August, Section 144 was enforced across several Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts, including Bajaur, effectively prohibiting gatherings of five or more individuals.

Authorities in Bajaur have registered a case against him for the breach of the section. He is due to appear in sessions court on 4 September.

HUM News English reached out to Anwar Zeb Khan for a comment but his numbers were not reponding.