Sedition case: Islamabad court puts off indicting PTI leader Shahbaz Gill
PTI leader Shahbaz Gill — who has been facing a number of cases since his controversial comments about the military establishment — was brought to an Islamabad district and sessions court in an ambulance, DawnNewsTV reported on Friday.
Footage broadcast on television showed Gill lying on a stretcher and apparently convulsing with an oxygen mask.
Last month, the PTI leader was admitted to Lahore’s Services Hospital owing to shortness of breath. He was reportedly having difficulty breathing and coughing.
The PTI leader was arrested last year on charges of sedition and inciting the public against the state institutions.
According to the FIR, a programme was aired on a news channel in which Gill appeared as a guest. Answering a question, he had tried to create a divide between the officers below the rank of brigadier and above besides trying to affiliate the officers below the rank of brigadier with a political party, it had added.
He was later released on bail.
At the previous hearing, the court had decided to frame charges against the suspects after several delays.
During the hearing today, Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi and Gill’s lawyer Burhan Muazzam appeared before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Tahir Abbas Sipra.
The counsel of Ammad Yousaf — Director News of a private TV channel who was also booked in the case — was present in the courtroom as well.
At the outset of the hearing, Yousaf’s lawyer said that his client was suffering from malaria and had therefore failed to appear in court today. He then submitted a request seeking an exemption from an in-person appearance along with Yousaf’s medical report.
Here, the judge said: “It seems as if [you people] have taken turns. Shahbaz Gill came from Lahore in an ambulance and Ammad Yousaf didn’t show up at all.”
“The matter is stuck […] it seems as if time is being stretched,” ADSJ Sipra added.
Meanwhile, the PTI leader’s lawyer said that his client was present in an ambulance outside the court, adding that he could not move because of the oxygen mask.
Subsequently, the court issued arrest warrants for Ammad Yousaf against surety bonds worth Rs50,000 and adjourned the hearing till Jan 20. It also instructed the lawyers to ensure Gill and Yousaf’s presence at the next hearing.
The controversy
Last year, on August 9, the same day when Gill was arrested, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had issued a show-cause notice to ARY News for airing comments from Gill, that it said were “highly hateful and seditious” remarks tantamount to “incite armed forces towards revolt”.
The notice went on to say that Gill was invited via a telephonic call for his comments and during his talk with the channel, Gill had alleged that the government was trying to provoke the lower and middle tier of the army against the PTI, saying the families of such “rank and file” support Imran Khan and his party “which is fuelling rage within the government”.
He had also alleged that the “strategic media cell” of the ruling PML-N was spreading false information and fake news to create divisions between PTI chief Imran Khan and the armed forces.
Gill had said the government leaders, including Javed Latif, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq, had lambasted the army in the past “and they were at the government positions now”.
“The statement made by the guest on ARY News is a violation of Article 19 of the Constitution as well as Pemra laws. Airing of such content on your news channel shows either weak editorial control on the content or the licensee is intentionally indulged in providing its platform to such individuals who intend to spread malice and hatred against state institutions for their vested interests,” the watchdog stated.
“Dr Gill tried to malign the federal government, claiming the government functionaries are spearheading a campaign through social media cell for propagating anti-army narrative,” the authority said.