Daily Times

Police on Sunday refused to take PTI MPA Nazir Chohan into custody as he reached Lahore’s Race Course Police Station to surrender.

On Saturday, Chohan went to the in-charge investigation of the police station and asked him for his arrest. However, the police official said that he would only take any action in the case after getting permission from the Punjab Assembly speaker.

Speaking to reporters later, Chohan reiterated that he stands by his stance against Shahzad Akbar, adding that he wants to state some facts to the nation as well as Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Shahzad Akbar is playing a leading role in the party and our friends should consider the hereafter and should not support him [Shahzad Akbar],” he added.

The estranged PTI MPA further said that he will provide evidence supporting his claims about Shahzad Akbar but only after his arrest. He alleged that Akbar is promoting some specific people in different institutions who are working on some agendas. He urged PM Imran Khan to take notice of the issue. “People of Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jamaat are being targeted. I am against those who commit terrorism and take the law into their own hands,” he further said.

A case was registered against the MPA belonging to the estranged Jahangir Tareen group on the complaint of Adviser to PM on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar. The FIR was lodged under sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 298 (making statements with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 153 (provoking to cause riot) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the FIR, Akbar claimed that Chohan’s statements while speaking in a TV show about the former’s religious beliefs had put his life at risk. “The offence has been committed to cause injury to the reputation, body, property and mind of the applicant and cause hatred in public at large towards the applicant,” the FIR read.

Special Assistant to PM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill in a tweet on Sunday said, “It is not wise to stick to one’s position on everything. If a mistake is made and someone is harmed unjustly, then one should be ashamed and apologise.” “Nazir Chohan should not have spoken falsely and wrongly about Shahzad Akbar. Now, if a mistake has been made, it is better to apologise than to stick to it,” he advised Chohan.