IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Mushir Alam 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
  
Criminal Petition No.520 of 2020 
(Against the order dated 30.4.2020 passed by the 
Lahore High Court Lahore in Cr. M. No.8114-
B/2020) 
 
Hazrat Nabi Shah alias Hazrat Khan 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
The State & another  
….Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
 
Mr. Muazzam Butt, ASC 
 
 
 
 
Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR 
 
 
For the State: 
Rana M. Arif Kamal Noon 
 
Prosecutor General, Punjab (on court notice) 
 
Rana Abdul Majeed, Addl. P.G. Punjab 
 
Mr. Sarwar Sindhu, Addl. P.G. Punjab 
 
Rai Tahir, Addl. I.G. CTD Punjab 
 
Sohail Khan, Inspector/IO, CTD, Sargodha 
 
Syed Asad Muzaffar, SP Model Town Lahore 
 
Altaf Hussain, DSP 
 
Nisar Ahmed, SI/Incharge Investigation 
 
Munir Ahmed, SI 
  
For co-accused (Ismail Khan): Mr. Aftab Alam Yasir, ASC 
 
along with Ismail Khan, in person. 
 
Date of hearing: 
25.08.2020. 
 
 
 
 
ORDER 
 
  
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- On 4.12.2019, pursuant 
to a tip off, Hazrat Nabi Shah and Ismail Khan, residents of Khyber 
Pakhtunkhaw were intercepted by a contingent of CTD Sargodha along 
with a cache that included explosives, an hand grenade, a .30 caliber 
pistol as well as live munitions. A learned Division Bench of Lahore High 
Court Lahore granted bail to Ismail Khan on 23.4.2020, however, declined 
the motion by Hazrat Nabi Shah vide order dated 30.04.2020. It is in this 
backdrop that Hazrat Nabi Shah alias Hazrat Khan petitioner approached 
this Court for bail when vide order dated 30.07.2020 Ismail Khan  
co-accused was sent for to show cause as to why bail granted to him be 
not cancelled. 
 
 
 2 
  
  
 
The High Court granted bail to Ismail Khan co-accused on the 
ground that hand grenade, statedly recovered at his instance, was not sent 
to any notified expert for confirmation of its explosive potential and that 
the official who defused the bomb was not a declared “notified expert”.  It is 
on this finding that the learned counsel for Hazrat Nabi Shah alias Hazrat 
Khan sought bail on the ground of requirement of principle of consistency 
besides arguing that petitioner’s family had lodged complaint of his having 
been a missing person much earlier than his arrest in the present case 
and it is for this reason that a fake recovery is foisted upon him to validate 
his illegal detention.  
Pursuant to notice, Ismail Khan co-accused, is in attendance; 
adopting the reasons of the High Court, it is argued by his learned counsel 
that he had been rightly released on bail as his culpability in the absence 
of a forensic report squarely brought his case within the purview of further 
probe; he has next argued that once bail is granted, exceptionally strong 
grounds are required to recall the freedom, a practice consistently followed 
by this Court. Learned Prosecutor General Punjab has faithfully defended 
the State. It is argued that the accused, apparently having no inter se 
relationship, hailing from the remoteness of a different province, were 
arrested red-handed with a substantial volume of explosives and arms 
with huge capacity to play havoc in a populous city and as such there was 
no occasion for grant of bail to one of them on a ground that was not only 
legally untenable but also could not be attended without travelling beyond 
the barriers of tentative assessment, a journey prohibited by law.  
2. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
3. 
 
The accused, both teenagers, respectively belong to different 
parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhaw, i.e. Peshawar and Mehmand Agency; they 
had apparently no business to be in a distant city and as such hypothesis 
of their manipulated arrest, as argued at the bar, may not find a buyer. 
Similarly, seizure of considerable quantity of explosives that included an 
hand grenade, a pistol and cash cannot be brushed aside on a bald denial 
alone as the local authorities do not appear to have an axe to grind. On the 
contrary, their surprise arrest and recovery of contraband constituted 
‘reasonable grounds” to bring their plea within the remit of Prohibition, 
standing in impediment to their release on bail.  
 
On the date of their arrest i.e. 04.12.2019, the Investigating Officer 
along with Muhammad Suleman, Bomb Disposal Squad Expert attached 
 
 
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with Civil Defence Sargodha, defused the hand grenade and prepared a 
memo with following remarks:- 
“(a) It is certified that A/M Explosives material found 
alive, serviceable, operational and can be used for 
any types of terrorists activities. 
(b) 
It is further clarified that explosive cannot be 
extracted from hand grenade and detonators for 
preparation of samples parcels as they contains 
High/Primary high explosive which is very sensitive to 
heat and spark.” 
 
The above observations of the expert escaped the notice of the High Court 
that also appears to have ignored forensic reports confirming awful 
lethality of other items seized in the totality of circumstances and, thus, 
erroneously misdirected itself to grant bail to Ismail Khan, co-accused, 
inexorably placed in an identical position with his co-accused, rightly 
denied the concession. Argument that once bail is granted, recall requires 
most extraordinary measures is beside the mark as in an appropriate case, 
like one in hand, the Court would unhesitatingly strike down the error, 
manifestly 
reflecting 
upon 
the 
law. 
Seizure 
of 
high 
intensity 
explosives/devices given their devastating potential/threat to unsuspecting 
public at large must be viewed with appropriate caution, therefore, having 
regard to the legislative intent, exercise of discretion in bail matters needs 
to be contoured carefully. Criminal Petition No.520 of 2020 fails. Leave 
declined. Order dated 23.04.2020 is set aside; bail granted to Ismail Khan  
co-accused is cancelled. The above observations, however, shall not 
shadow the trial, to be essentially settled on the strength of evidence alone, 
with all convenient dispatch, preferably within a period of six months.   
 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
25th August, 2020 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/- 
