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       KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others on an application against restricting Awab Alvi, son of former president Arif Alvi, from travelling abroad.

       A two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhary also directed the respondents to file comments till Aug 6.

       The counsel for the petitioner submitted that his client had approached the SHC in May against placing his name on the Provisional National Immigration List (PNIL) as on March 24 Awab was offloaded from a flight when he was set to travel to Istanbul.

       He also maintained that the petitioner had opted to withdraw the petition against the respondents, including the ministry of interior and FIA, after the agency informed the SHC on June 18 that the name of the petitioner had been removed from the PNIL.

       However, the lawyer submitted that on the following day, the petitioner’s name was again placed on the PNIL and he was restricted from travelling abroad.

       Petitioner’s counsel also seeks contempt proceedings against respondents

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       The counsel filed an application seeking restoration of the petition as well as contempt proceedings against the FIA and others.

       The lawyer also filed a similar application on behalf of a PTI leader, Aftab, Jahangir and submitted that the FIA had also placed an identical report before the SHC about removing petitioner’s name from the PNIL on June 18, but he was again placed on the list.

       The court issued notices to the FIA and others.

       Woman granted bail in drug case

       The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted post-arrest bail to a woman suspect in a drug peddling case.

       Led by Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, a two-judge bench directed the petitioner to furnish a solvent surety of Rs50,000 with direction that she must appear before the trial court on each and every hearing.

       Police had arrested Rukhsana alias Shabo a few months ago for allegedly selling methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, at old fish market in Sujawal Town and recovering 75gm of the drug from her possession. She was booked under the Psychotropic Substance-Ice Amendment Act 2024.

       The suspect, through her lawyer, petitioned the SHC seeking post-arrest bail and after hearing both sides, the divisional bench granted the bail.

       The counsel for the petitioner asserted that the alleged recovery was foisted upon the petitioner because only policemen were named as witnesses in the case despite the fact that the place of incident was a thickly-populated area.

       He also contended that no photo or video was recorded at the time of recovery and in similar circumstances, the apex court had granted bail.

       An additional prosecutor general argued that, as per chemical analysis report, the seized substance was narcotic ice, attracting a minimum punishment of two to three years along with fine and she was apprehended red-handed by the police.

       The bench in its order said that as per the material available on record, no independent witness has been cited in the case and the complainant has not recorded a video or captured the pictures at the time of seizure and arrest.

       Besides, it also noted that the offence in question carried a punishment less than 10 years and the same did not fall within the prohibitory clause and, therefore, the petition was allowed and the petitioner was admitted to post-arrest bail.

       Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2025