Fawad Chaudhry's physical remand extended for two more days
Pakistan
Fawad Chaudhry's physical remand extended for two more days
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Judicial Magistrate on Saturday extended physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry for two more days.
Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja pronounced the reserved verdict. The petition, filed by the police, also called for revocation of the order passed by a magistrate yesterday that sent the ex-minister on judicial remand.
Earlier in the day, the Islamabad police challenged the verdict of a judicial magistrate to reject a plea for extension in physical remand of the former information minister. Police had pleaded the court to declare Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja’s ruling null and void as they needed more time to complete interrogation in the case.
During the hearing, police told court they needed to take Mr Chaudhry to Lahore for photogrammetric test. However, Babar Awan requested the court discharge the case against his clince as it is "politically motivated".
The capital police moved court after Fawad filed a bail plea in court of Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Gillani.
A day earlier, the judicial magistrate sent the former information minister to the Adiala Jail on 14-day judicial remand after turning down a police plea for extension in the physical remand. The PTI bigwig was produced before the magistrate in handcuffs after his two-day remand ended on Friday in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary.
During the hearing, the prosecutor pleaded the court to extend physical remand of the PTI leader as the investigation team needed more time to complete the probe. Reading out the content of the FIR, he said the former minister attempted to incite violence against ECP officials and their families. He said voice-matching test of the suspect had been completed while there was a need to take him to Lahore for photogrammetric test.
He also sought permission to search the house of Imran Khan’s aide to recover laptop and mobile phone. He said the role of the electoral body was crucial in the coming months due to elections but Mr Chaudhry was trying to put pressure on the ECP.
However, Fawad Chaudhry’s lawyer Babar Awan expressed reservations over treatment meted out to his client, stating that the PTI leader was treated as a “terrorist”. He said the statement of Mr Chaudhry was reflection of public opinion against the ECP. He also requested the court to discharge his client’s name from the case.
On Wednesday, Duty Magistrate Naveed Khan handed over the PTI stalwart in the custody of the Islamabad police on a two-day physical remand after he was arrested from his residence in Lahore in a case filed over hurling threats at officials of the ECP and their families. The investigating officer had sought eight-day physical remand of the former minister but the request was rejected.
Arrest
The PTI leader was taken into custody from his residence in Lahore by police in the wee hours of Wednesday. His sudden arrest angered leaders of the PTI, including Hammad Azhar and Farrukh Habib, as they warned of launching countrywide protests if the location of Mr Chaudhry was not disclosed as they claimed that details about his arrest were not being shared.
It was revealed that the former information minister was arrested in a case registered by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Umer Hameed at the Kohsar police station of the capital city.
In his speech outside Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore, Fawad warned the Election Commission, its members and their families, according to the FIR. Fawad said that those who become part of the caretaker government would be pursued until they were punished. He had said that the people sitting in the government would be pursued to their houses.
Meanwhile, the PTI leaders have expressed concerns over the arrest of Fawad Chaudhry and announced to move the court against it.
Earlier, thousands of PTI workers gathered outside PTI chief Imran Khan residence in Zaman Park, Lahore in the wee hours of Wednesday to protect their leader from possible arrest by the Punjab police
The PTI leader, according to the First Information Report (FIR), has been booked under sections 153A, 506 and 124 A of the PPC for allegedly threatening the ECP and its members in a televised interview on Tuesday. The FIR carries the excerpt of the former MNA’s statement wherein he alleged that the election commission had become a “Munshi” as the election commissioner signed things like a clerk after they were sent to him by the government.
Mr Chaudhry said those who would be involved in injustice to the PTI would be pursued until they were punished. He said people should pursue the elements who were deceiving public, to their houses. Expressing reservations about the appointments of some officials in the ECP Punjab ahead of elections, he said if these appointments were not rolled back, “we warn that the election commission and its members will have to pay back”.
The complainant said Fawad Chaudhry had threatened the chief election commissioner, members of the ECP and their families in his speech which he described as an attempt to create hurdles in the electoral process.
“The speech has created a permanent threat for the ECP members and their families,” he said, adding that the PTI leader had attempted to create differences between the government and the ECP. "It is a serious crime to influence the electoral process by issuing threats to the constitutional institutions," he said, adding that such statements could lead to chaos in the country.
