Daily Times

LAHORE: Police in Punjab capital have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif over his speeches against the state institutions.

Moved by a resident of Lahore, the FIR lodged with the Shahdara Police Station states that the deposed PM committed ‘criminal conspiracy’ under Pakistan Penal Code.

The First Information Report (FIR) registered against Nawaz on October 1 was lodged by a citizen in the Shahdra Police Station’s jurisdiction. The case was registered under the provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code for criminal conspiracy against the PML-N chief and other leaders.

The FIR alleges that the former prime minister, in his speeches, supported the policies of India, and claimed that Nawaz wanted to give the impression that Pakistan will be listed in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list in its upcoming meeting.

The citizen in the FIR claimed that Nawaz, in his speeches, wanted to divert the attention of Indian forces’ atrocities in occupied Kashmir and India’s occupation of the territory.

The complainant states that Sharif has several corruption cases against him 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.”

It alleges that in the speeches made on Sept 20 and Oct 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 complaint observes Sharif’s consecutive addresses come less than three weeks before a virtual meeting of the global terror financing watchdog will decide if Pakistan should be excluded from its grey list. The meeting will be held from Oct 21 to Oct 23.

With the country’s continuation in the grey list, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the government to get financial relief from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the cash-strapped economy.

“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 FIR says.

It adds that Sharif is trying to turn the people against the democratically elected government.

The aim of the speeches is also to divert attention from human rights violations in occupied Kashmir to benefit Sharif’s “friend” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the complainant says.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a plea seeking a ban on Sharif’s speeches. The petition states that the former premier has started actively participating in politics and has initiated a smear campaign against state institutions, after going abroad on the pretext of availing medical treatment.

FIR AIMED AT ‘SUPPRESSING OPP’: PML-N

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, in a statement condemning the registration of the case, said: “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, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the registration of the case was proof of the fact that the “selected” government was “panicking”.