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Pak SC dismisses review petition against Malik Ishaq
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday dismissed the Punjab Government’s review petition seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Malik Ishaq, the head of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi accused of masterminding a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team.
A two-member bench of the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry dismissed the petition filed by Punjab’s Prosecution Department.
The bench comprising Justices Asif Saeed Khosa and Tassaduq Hussain Jilani observed that the Prosecution Department had failed to produce any concrete evidence against Ishaq.
The bench said bail was granted to Ishaq purely on merit and could not be withdrawn.
Today was the first day of hearing the petition and the bench dismissed it without issuing a notice to the Punjab Government.
A bench of the apex court had on July 10 granted bail to Ishaq after he was acquitted in 34 of the 44 cases registered against him.
Ishaq was granted bail after being held in jail for 14 years.
The apex court, while granting bail to Ishaq, had expressed dissatisfaction at the Prosecution Department’s performance in establishing the case against him.
Following his release on bail, Ishaq was placed under house arrest in the wake of an upsurge in sectarian attacks blamed on the LeJ.
On October 25, the detention of Ishaq and his deputy Ghulam Rasool was extended by two more months.
Besides the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009, Ishaq was accused of involvement in the killing of at least 70 people, a majority of them Shias.
Punjab’s Prosecution Department had said in its review petition that the Supreme Court, while granting bail to Ishaq, had observed “there is no admissible legal evidence” against him.
