Sedition charges: FIR registered against Nawaz, others

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Police on Monday registered a first information report (FIR) against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and over 40 other party leaders for allegedly planning to oust the democratically-elected government besides defaming the judiciary and the armed forces.

The FIR was registered at the Shahdara police station on the complaint of citizen Babar 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 reads that the former prime minister is facing several corruption cases that are currently under trial in courts. However, he is carrying out a planned "conspiracy" to defame the country and its institutions by making inflammatory speeches instead of availing medical treatment in London.

The FIR, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, nominated several PML-N leaders including Maryam Nawaz, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rashid, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Ataullah Tarar, Javed Abbasi, Khuwaja Asif, Mifta Ismail, Mian Javed Latif, Uzma Bukhari, Ayyaz Sadiq and Muhammad Zubair for conspiring to oust the democratically-elected government and the judiciary and the Pak Army in the recently-held Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Central Working Committee (CWC) meetings of the party led by Nawaz Sharif. Of them, the FIR says that Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and PML-N leaders Khuwaja Saad Rafique, Ameer Muqam and Irfan Siddiqui listened and raised their hands in solidarity during a speech of Nawaz Sharif, who is a NAB convict.

The complainant alleged that the ex-premier during his speeches on September 20 and October 1 had supported the policies of arch-rival 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. Nawaz is trying to incite people against the democratically-elected government," the citizen said, adding that the aim of the speeches is also to divert attention from human rights violations in occupied Kashmir to benefit Nawaz's "friend" Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The FIR further claims that the former premier wants to portray before the international community, through his speeches, that the armed forces of Pakistan are actually the enemies of democratic governments. "While staying abroad, Nawaz Sharif is conspiring against the state institutions because the Pakistani laws do not allow any convicted person to take leverage of bail and address public on social media or TV channels," it reads.

Reacting to the development, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb in a statement posted on Twitter said that the registration of case was a proof 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".

Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan during an interview to a private TV channel had said that Nawaz Sharif was playing a "dangerous game" by leveling allegations of political interference against the Army and claimed that the former premier had India's support. "This is a dangerous game Nawaz is playing; Altaf Hussain played the same game. "I am 100 percent sure that India is helping Nawaz," Imran was quoted as having said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had reportedly asked the PTI leaders to foil all moves of the opposition aimed at destabilising the government and maligning the army and devise a legal strategy to bring back Nawaz Sharif from London.

On Sunday, a sedition case was filed against Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law Capt Muhammad Safdar (retd), for "instigating" people against the country and institutions, but he managed to get bail from Lahore High Court on Monday.

Three Pakistani journalists were charged with sedition between September 11 and 16 under Pakistan's 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), a law that has drawn widespread criticism for compromising citizens' rights to expression and privacy.

Reuters adds: "We will ensure a court trial against the accused," government official Musarrat Cheema told Reuters regarding the sedition charges.

The sedition case filed against Sharif, his daughter and 44 top party leaders says he has sought in his speeches to isolate Pakistan internationally and have it declared a rogue state. "Convict Nawaz Sharif has been openly inciting the public to commit treason," said the case, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, adding that it was aimed at maligning the armed forces and the judiciary.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020