Kashmiri Poet Ahmed Farhad Released After AJK High Court Grants Bail
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on June 13 granted bail to poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad, leading to his release from custody on June 14.
Farhad had disappeared from his Islamabad residence on May 15 and reappeared near the AJK-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border on May 29 when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard a petition for his recovery.
Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan informed the court that the poet had been arrested under Section 186 of the Azad Penal Code (APC) and detained at the Dhirkot police station in Bagh district.
Later that day, Farhad was moved to Saddar Police Station in Muzaffarabad, where he faced charges under nine sections of the APC, as well as the Telegraph Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
On June 4, an AJK anti-terrorism court (ATC) denied Farhad’s bail request. Farhad’s legal team then filed a bail petition with the AJK High Court.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had termed his arrest “illegal” and declared Farhad a “missing person” until his return to his home.
Source: Pakistan Press Foundation