Web Desk
A case under blasphemy laws has been registered in central Pakistan town of Faisalabad against PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan and other top figures of the previous government, days after pilgrims converged on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s delegation and chanted slogans in Masjid-i-Nabwi in Medina.
Former Prime Minister has been booked under Sections 295 (harming or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 296 (disturbing religious assembly) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code, English newspaper, Daily Dawn reported.
The FIR, registered on the complaint of a citizen Muhammad Naeem in Faisalabad, names key PTI leaders and associates — Fawad Chaudhry, Shahbaz Gill, Qasim Suri, Sahibzada Jahangir, Aneel Musarrat as well as former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Rashid’s nephew, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, has already been arrested by FIA in Rawalpindi.
According to the complainant, the incident at Masjid-i-Nabwi was carried out under a “planned and thought out scheme and conspiracy”. He said that his claims were supported by the videos that are being shared on electronic and social media as well as through speeches made by certain PTI leaders.
He alleged that Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Sheikh Rashid, Shahbaz Gill and Qasim Suri were part of a conspiracy under which other PTI leaders then led delegations to Saudi Arabia to carry out the actions at the holy mosque, which were then posted on social media outlets.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that there was no justification for not registering a case against those who violate the sanctity of Roza-i-Rasool (peace be upon him).
Pilgrims were instigated under a plan, the minister said, adding that some of the people had travelled to Saudi Arabia from Britain. “There can be no forgiveness for what these people have done,” he said.
At a press conference in Lahore alongwith Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar later in the day, Sanaullah explained the need for the FIR, explaining that if people weren’t provided with a way to address their concerns —particularly those related to religion and beliefs — in a legal manner then it could lead to them taking the situation into their own hands.
He assured that the investigation in the case would be conducted on merit and in accordance with the law, with the prime minister having issued specific directions in that regard.
Sanaullah criticised the PTI, saying it was a “misfortune” that the party, whose members have been accused of being behind the incident, still hadn’t condemned the affair.
The law minister, meanwhile, condemned the incident and said he had been instructed by the prime minister to check the legal status of the case. Tarar said the Pakistan Penal Code and criminal laws allow punishment of individuals for their actions abroad if the said actions were crimes in Pakistan.
He, too, reiterated that the investigation would be conducted on merit and the federal government would issue instructions to the province that no illegal action is taken.
Reacting to the registation of cases, Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, in a series of tweets, said she was not surprised by the “dirty tricks” of registering a “fake FIR” by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, whom she described as a “shameless criminal”.
She further said that the move showed that Shehbaz Sharif — whom she dubbed the “crime minister” — and “his cabal of crooks brought in by US regime change conspiracy getting desperate because they have no legitimacy amongst nation”.
