A court in PoK rejects Kashmiri poet Ahmed Farhad’s bail plea

Islamabad, Jun 4 (PTI) An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad city on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of poet Ahmed Farhad who went missing for 15 days during the recent anti-government protests in the region.

The development comes a day after the court on Monday reserved its verdict following the hearing arguments from both sides.

The poet’s wife Urooj Zainab said she would challenge the decision, Geo News reported.

“Details of why the bail was rejected were not disclosed,” she said in a press conference. Farhad, known for his defiant prose, came into the spotlight after he went missing during recent protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Zainab said her husband was allegedly abducted from his house on May 14.

Subsequently, she moved to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking her husband’s recovery along with requesting the court to identify, investigate, and prosecute those responsible for his disappearance.

The poet remained missing for 15 days before Attorney General for Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, on May 29 in response to IHC’s directions to recover the missing poet said Farhad was arrested and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir police custody.

Following the development, the poet’s family met him at the Kahori police station outside Muzaffarabad.

The IHC last week turned down the federal government’s plea to wrap up the poet’s recovery case till he appeared in the hearing.

IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, while hearing the petition filed by the poet’s wife, rejected the additional AGP’s plea stressing that the case would be concluded on the day when Farhad is produced before the court.

However, Farhad’s lawyer argued that the poet’s family went to Dhirkot Police Station in PoK but he was not found there. The family was later informed that the poet had been shifted to Muzaffarabad for a probe.

The ATC then ordered a medical examination of the poet after his counsel, Iman Mazari, requested the court to have Farhad medically examined.

The poet’s family said they had concerns the poet was being administered a slow poison.

The IHC will resume the hearing of the case on June 7.