ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah said on Sunday the government was seeking legal advice on whether to include former prime minister Imran Khan’s name to the existing case of sedition against Dr. Shahbaz Gill or separately move against him for “threatening” senior government functionaries during a public rally.
Khan criticized a magistrate for handing over Gill, his close aide and chief of staff, to the police for interrogation after accusing officials of the law enforcement agency of brutally torturing him in their custody.
Gill was arrested in Islamabad earlier this month after he told a television talk show that army officers should not follow orders of their top command if they were “against the sentiments of the masses.”
While the government has denied the torture allegation made by Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the former premier said he was going to take legal action against relevant officials during his public rally on Saturday which was held in solidarity with Gill.
“The interior ministry has completed a report and is currently checking with the law ministry and advocate general whether it should include Imran Khan’s name in the same [sedition] case with Gill for threatening state institutions, lodge a separate case against him, or arrest him in the matter,” Sanaullah said during a press conference.
“Khan’s statement was part of the same narrative of threatening institutions in which PTI has now included police and judiciary as well,” he continued, adding that law enforcement agencies would proceed against the PTI chief once the consultations were over.
“I personally favor his arrest in this case,” the minister said.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) circulated a notification on Saturday night to impose a ban on the live broadcast of Khan’s speeches, saying he was making “baseless allegations and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against state institutions and officers.”
The media regulator also maintained the former prime minister’s speeches were likely to “disturb public peace and tranquility.”
Police in Islamabad also responded to Khan’s statements against senior officials, saying they were diligently performing their duties and “anyone hurling threats and allegations [against them] will be dealt with according to law.”
“ICT [Islamabad Capital Territory] police as an institution will take legal action against all false allegations,” the police added in a string of Twitter post.
Responding to the interior minister, senior PTI leader, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, said Khan was not threatening state institutions and had only announced legal action against individuals involved in Gill’s torture and allowing his physical remand to the police.
“Does the announcement of taking legal action constitute a threat,” he asked during a news conference.
“We are filing these cases,” he continued, “and initiating administrative action against the magistrate on giving physical remand despite claims of torture.”
