Muzaffarabad ATC Rejects Poet Ahmed Farhad's Bail Petition

Farhad, famed for his outspoken poetry, made headlines after going missing during recent demonstrations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Muzaffarabad ATC Rejects Poet Ahmed Farhad's Bail Petition

The Muzaffarabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) rejected poet Ahmed Farhad's bail plea. 

The devleopment comes a day after the court heard arguments from both parties and reserved its decision.

The ATC had ordered a medical checkup of the poet just two days before the hearing on his bail plea due to concerns about slow poisoning. 

The ATC ordered last Monday that the poet be examined by a team of specialists from the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences. 

The development occurred at a hearing in which Farhad's lawyer, Imaan Mazari, demanded that the Kashmiri poet be medically checked. 

According to Mazari, Farhad was transported from Dhirkot to Muzaffarabad under many articles of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

Farhad, famed for his outspoken poetry, made headlines after going missing during recent demonstrations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. 

His wife, Urooj Zainab, claims her husband was kidnapped from his home on May 14. She then petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for her husband's retrieval as well as the identification, investigation, and prosecution of those responsible for his abduction. 

The poet went missing for 15 days when the Attorney General of Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, informed the IHC on May 29 that Farhad had been apprehended and was in the custody of AJK police. 

In response to the IHC's orders to locate the missing poet, AGP Usman Awan reported on May 29 that Farhad had been detained and was in the custody of the AJK Police.

Following the development, the poet's family met him at the Kahori police station, located near Muzaffarabad. 

Last Thursday, the IHC denied the federal government's request to close the poet's recovery case until he physically appeared in court. 

While hearing the poet's wife's appeal, IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed the additional AGP's plea, emphasizing that the case would be finished on the day Farhad was brought in court. 

The court will begin hearing the case on June 7.