Daily Times

On Wednesday, senior PTI leader Shahbaz Gill was handed over to police on a two-day physical remand in a sedition case against him. Islamabad court approved the physical remand of the PTI leader.

The magistrate court ordered the Islamabad Kohsar police to bring Gill back before the court on Friday while announcing the reserved verdict.

The duty magistrate noted that based on the record provided and in light of the accusations against Shahbaz Gill, the physical remand was required, according to the written order issued by the court.

The magistrate further stated that a forensic test to match the recorded voice of Gill was also necessary. He ordered the police to inform the court after completing the investigation in two days.

Earlier, Duty Magistrate Umar Shabbir reserved his ruling on the police’s plea seeking physical remand of Shahbaz Gill which was opposed by the latter’s counsel.

Senior PTI leader Shahbaz Gill was produced before the district and sessions court of Islamabad on Wednesday morning. Duty Magistrate Umar Shabbir heard the petition filed by police seeking physical remand of the PTI leader who has been charged with sedition, inciting the public against state institutions and their heads, and spreading anarchy and hatred.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the PTI leader on behalf of the state under sections 34 (common intention), 109 (abetment), 120 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 121 (waging war against state), 124-A (sedition), 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempt to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 153 (provoking to cause riot), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

He had been apprehended from outside Imran Khan’s apartment in the federal capital’s Banigala Chowk.

The case against Gill had been registered at the Kohsar police station. The first information report (FIR) contains violations of various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

After taking the PTI leader into custody, the Islamabad police moved him to an unidentified location.

Immediately after the news was reported, the ex-premier took to Twitter and said that “this is an abduction, not an arrest”.

“Can such shameful acts take place in any democracy? Political workers treated as enemies,” he said.