AJK High Court grants bail to poet Ahmed Farhad

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court granted bail to poet Ahmed Farhad weeks after his arrest.
Shahir’s bail application was approved against $200,000 bail.
Earlier this week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared Farhad a “missing person” until he returned home and declared his detention “illegal”.
According to the court order, the poet has been missing since May 15 and could not reach his home, and a First Information Report (FIR) regarding the disappearance has been registered at Lohebher Police Station, Islamabad under PPC sections 427 and 365.
According to the order, Farhad Ali was arrested by Kashmir’s Dherkot police station and wanted by Saddar Muzaffarabad police station in another terror incident.
He added that in the above situation a person can not be produced on the bench. Therefore, the court concluded that he forcibly disappeared and the relevant authorities could not recover him.
According to the court’s order, Farhad is now under judicial custody and has declared his detention “illegal”.
The court said that the investigating officer of Lohebher police station should record the poet’s statement under Section 164 after he returns to the court and continue the investigation based on his statement.
Farhad, a poet from Kashmir, went missing for 15 days last month, after which the Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan announced that he had indeed been arrested and was in the custody of the AJK police. The AGP’s statement came on May 29 in response to the IHC’s directive to ensure Farhad’s recovery.
Shahir was transferred from Dhirkot to Muzaffarabad under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
After he was reported missing during the demonstration in AJK in May, his wife Urooj Zainab drew attention to the IHC, seeking the recovery of her husband and asking them to identify, investigate and prosecute the person responsible for his disappearance.