ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, a close aide to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan's minister for science and technology, said on Monday the PM had expressed “strong displeasure” on the filing of a sedition case against former premier Nawaz Sharif over comments criticising the interference of the military in national politics.
Police registered a case against the three-time former prime minister, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and another former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Monday on the charges of “maligning” the country’s army and state institutions in recent speeches and public appearances.
“Making sedition cases is not our policy,” Chaudhry said in a tweet. "The [ruling] Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is a political party, we still have moves left on the chessboard of politics."
In a second tweet he wrote:
“The Prime Minister was not aware of this FIR [first information report] when I brought to his notice that there has been such an FIR in which Nawaz Sharif and other people have been nominated. He expressed strong displeasure.”
The police case comes days after Sharif, who heads the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, delivered several speeches accusing the country’s military of political interference, which the army denies. His daughter and Abbasi have also made public speeches on the same issue.
Sharif’s third term as prime minister ran from 2013 to 2017, when he was removed by the Supreme Court amid revelations over his personal wealth. Last year he was released on bail from a seven-year prison sentence for corruption and flown to London for medical treatment. He has not returned and Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his government will bring him back through a court order.
Last week, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) also banned the broadcast of speeches, interviews and public addresses by “absconders and proclaimed offenders,” in a veiled reference to Sharif.
On Monday, the Islamabad High Court dismissed a petition seeking a ban on Sharif's speeches, saying the "tendency of invoking the constitutional jurisdiction of a high court in matters involving political content is certainly not in public interest."
In the police case filed against Sharif, the petitioner, a private citizen, said Sharif was engaged in a “planned conspiracy” to defame Pakistan and its institutions, the army and judiciary, though “inflammatory speeches.” It said Sharif wanted to isolate Pakistan in the world community and have it declared a “rogue state.”
Speaking to the press on Monday, PMLN leader Mohammad Zubair, who is a spokesperson for the Sharifs, condemned the government’s efforts to brand the party leaders as “traitors” and called for an end to the practice of labeling political opponents “enemies of the state.”
Last month, a conference of major opposition parties announced the formation of a joint platform, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), to launch countrywide protests to bring down Khan's government. PDM is scheduled to hold its first public rally on October 18.
