An Islamabad court has ‘discharged’ Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib from a sedition case, three days after he was arrested by the police and remanded into police custody.
Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict reserved earlier in the day after hearing arguments from prosecution and defence lawyers.
The former army officer was produced before the court following the completion of his three-day amid tight security. The court appearance came as a photo of the retired general from lockup went viral on social media. He can be seen standing behind the bars in the photo.
During today’s hearing, Mr Shoaib’s lawyer contended that the case registered against his client did not fall under the Section 505. He said the talk show where Mr Shoaib gave the remarks was held to discuss a matter related to elections. Now, the Supreme Court had issued its ruling ordering elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within 90 days. “If the decision was made earlier, such talk show would not have happened,” he said while asking the court to discharge the case against his client. However, the prosecutor had opposed it.
In his ruling, the sessions court has ordered release of the former military officer in the case.
The Islamabad police had arrested retired Lt Gen Amjad Shoaib in a pre-dawn action on Monday for allegedly inciting the public against state institutions. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Ramna police station against him under Sections 153A and 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The case was registered against him on the complaint of
Islamabad magistrate Awais Khan following his interview on a private news channel.
The complainant said the former army officer attempted to incite public through his provocative statement in the interview aired on Feb 25 night.
Responding to a question about the PTI chairman’s ongoing court arrest drive, Mr Shoaib said it would not work and suggested they need to change its strategy. “Let’s suppose they say no one will go to public offices in Islamabad and if people act on your call, it will make the government think about it,” he said.
The complainant said the Mr Shoaib through his statement had attempted to incite the government employees and opposition and it could cause anarchy in the country. He asked the authorities to take an action against the former army officer.
Last year, retired Lt Gen Amjad Shoaib was summoned by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after he claimed that the Pakistani prime minister held a meeting with Israeli delegation during his visit to an Arab country.
Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib discharged from incitement case
