LAHORE: The Punjab government informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday that Umar Dar, the brother of former PTI leader Usman Dar, was in the custody of Sialkot police.
The development came as the court took up a petition filed by Usman against the alleged illegal detention of his brother by law enforcement agencies.
Punjab Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihan appeared in the court informed that “Umar Dar is in police custody.” Abuzar Salman Niazi represented Umar Dar during the case.
“He was arrested on January 8 from Gujrat,” the state counsel claimed, adding that he was in Sialkot police custody at the Cantt police station. The provincial govt’s counsel further said Umar had been nominated in two first information reports related to the violent riots of May 9.
The lawyer said the Punjab police arrested Umar Dar and then transferred his custody to the Sialkot investigation police. On the occasion, Umar’s mother thanked Justice Najafi, saying he had made a “just decision”.
On Dec 30, the PTI had claimed that Usman had been abducted in Lahore. Subsequently, the LHC had directed police to recover Umar within 24 hours. Last week, the LHC rejected as dissatisfactory a report by the Punjab police denying the arrest or custody of Umar.
The next day, it directed Punjab Inspector General Police Dr Usman Anwar to file a fresh report in light of CCTV footage of the alleged abduction.
It should be noted that in December, the Dar brothers’ mother Rehana had accused PML-N stalwart Khawaja Asif and the police of raiding their Sialkot home and manhandling her. Asif and Sialkot police had denied the claim. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi presided over today’s hearing, which was attended by Rehana and Umar’s daughter.
