ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court Tuesday rejected the bail plea of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in a sedition case filed against him.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zafar Iqbal reserved the verdict on Monday after arguments were completed from both sides.
The PTI leader is facing sedition charges over controversial comments he made during a TV programme earlier this month. He was arrested by the Islamabad Police on August 9 from Banigala Chowk.
He has already been granted bail in another case related to arms recovery from his Parliament Lodges room.
Gill was booked in the sedition and arms recovery case and is in jail after he was sent on a judicial remand following back-and-forth hearings and his counsel’s repeated allegations against the Islamabad police.
On the court’s directive, the police presented the case record to Gill’s counsel on Monday.
During the previous hearing, Gill’s lawyer maintained that the police didn’t show the statement recorded under Section 161. “The police are showing all statements except for Gill’s,” the lawyer said. At this, the court directed the police to show Gill’s initial statement to the defence lawyer.
Giving arguments, Gill’s lawyer contended that the complainant of the case — city magistrate — had levelled allegations of sedition against the PTI leader after extracting different bits from the transcript of his remarks.
“Gill never thought about committing treason. There must be a misunderstanding about Gill’s statement which he is willing to clear,” he said. “An incorrect tweet was posted after the army aircraft accident and it later went viral. There is no fault of Shahbaz Gill in that,” the lawyer said, adding that the accused PTI leader even demanded punishment over the wrong tweet.
On the strategic media cell, Gill’s lawyer said the purpose of the cell was to create a rift between the PTI and the army and there was a mastermind behind it — whom he wouldn’t name. He said the mastermind provoked propaganda against Imran Khan and PTI.
“How could it be possible that Imran Khan or his party is against the martyrs of the Pakistan Army?” he asked. Making a reference to the Asia Bibi blasphemy case, the lawyer said a case was not valid if the accused hadn’t incited hate towards the army but the complainant said they had.
He said the PML-N insisted that Gill had committed treason against the army. “How can they give a meaning of their choice to Gill’s remarks?” he asked. “My client has and is standing by the army,” he added.