A case was registered on Monday against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and other party leaders at the Shahdara Police Station in Lahore for ‘conspiring’ against the country and state institutions.
The case was registered by a citizen, Badar Rasheed, under Section 10 (cyber-terrorism) of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (2016), and sections 120-A (definition of criminal conspiracy), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against Pakistan), 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolishment of its sovereignty), 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR also names party leaders Maryam Nawaz, Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pervez Rashid, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Ataullah Tarar and others that participated in the PML-N’s Central Executive Committee and Central Working Committee meetings held last week.
The complainant states that Nawaz has several corruption cases against him that are currently under trial in the courts. “Instead of availing medical treatment in London, Nawaz is carrying out a planned conspiracy to defame the country and its institutions by making inflammatory speeches,” says the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.
It alleges that in the speeches made on September 20 and October 1, the former premier supported the policies of neighbouring India, so that Pakistan would continue to remain on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’. “The main purpose of Nawaz’s speeches is to isolate Pakistan in front of the international community and to declare it a rogue state,” the complaint says.
Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz condemned registration of a treason case against Nawaz Sharif. Opposition leader in the National Assembly talking to a media person said he is being harassed in National Accountability Bureau’s custody.
“I am fighting NAB-Niazi nexus boldly.” PML-N President said, “Despite the fact that I am suffering from back pain, NAB authorities deliberately provide him food on the ground instead of the table.” Similarly, Hamza said, “It is ironic that a treason case has been registered against a person who made Pakistan a nuclear power.”
PML-N leader Zafar Iqbal issued a statement condemning the registration of the case. “Registering treason cases against politicians cannot hide the ineptitude of the government. Instead of addressing unemployment, inflation and poverty, the government is using state machinery to suppress the opposition.”
In a statement posted on Twitter, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the registration of the case was proof of the fact that the “selected” government was “panicking”. “Voices fighting for the truth and for the rights [of the people] can’t be suppressed by such false and baseless cases.” She added that political opponents, the media, and those fighting for human rights and democracy were now being labelled as “traitors”.
While speaking to reporters, PML-N leader and former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the FIR was “another black mark in the fictional history books of Pakistan”, adding that it had a “unique position among allegations of treason” in the history of the country. PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said that the government’s “incompetency” could not be hidden by declaring PML-N leaders as traitors. “The government is trying to hide its incompetency by trying to fool people into thinking we are traitors,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, PML-N leader retired Captain Mohammad Safdar on Monday obtained protective bail until October 10 by the Lahore High Court in a sedition case. Safdar was nominated for sedition in a first information report lodged in Gujranwala for allegedly “inciting hate […] against the army” and threatening to forcefully obtain permission for a public meeting on October 16.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed displeasure over the criminal conspiracy case filed against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said on Monday. The minister, in a tweet, said that PM Imran was unaware that such a case had been filed against the PML-N supremo, and that maybe someone wanted to implicate him in a case. “Prime Minister Imran Khan was unaware of any such [first information report] FIR, when I informed him about it, he expressed extreme displeasure,” Fawad Chaudhry said. “Filing treason cases is not our [PTI government’s] policy. These were the tactics [used during] Nawaz Sharif’s tenure,” he said. The minister said that the PTI was a political party and that it was yet to make its move. “The game has just begun.”
