Daily Times

During a special cabinet committee meeting on Friday, key federal government officials deliberated whether to file treason charges against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and the chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan over the PTI’s May 25 ‘Azadi March.’

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, the cabinet’s special committee meeting was chaired by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah. Minister for Communications Maulana Asad Mahmood, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Law Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, including Interior Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokhar and Islamabad Police IG Nasir Akbar were in attendance.

The interior minister, interior secretary, and IG Islamabad briefed the participants on the PTI’s ‘Azadi March’ on May 25.

The participants discussed filing a case on sedition charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan, and Gilgit-Baltistan, Khalid Khursheed, according to the statement.

“However, the committee postponed the meeting to further deliberate on the matter until June 6 to present its final recommendations to the federal cabinet,” according to the statement.

During the meeting, Sanaullah urged the committee to recommend to the federal cabinet that Imran Khan be charged with treason.

“PTI’s long march was a fitna and fasad March, instead of ‘Azadi March’ as it was an armed uprising on the capital. Therefore, I urged the committee to recommend filing a treason case under section 124(A) of the CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure] against Imran Khan and chief ministers of KP and GB,” he said.

While briefing the committee, the interior minister said a plan was made to siege and invade the capital with an armed force on May 25.

“With planning, around 2,500 miscreants were already sent to Islamabad and they tried to capture D-Chowk before the arrival of Imran Khan,” he said.

Sanaullah went on to say that Imran Khan had broken the Supreme Court’s order by ordering workers to report to D-chowk.

According to the interior minister, a group of armed people not only attacked police, Rangers, and FC personnel but also set fire to trees and a metro station.