Treason case hearing against CM on July 30

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions’ judge on Monday fixed July 30 for hearing of a petition seeking a case against 20 people including the chief minister and the schools secretary on charges of treason, forgery and cheating.

Petitioner Rizwan Haider said the suspects should be prosecuted for their role in the printing of incorrect maps of the country in an eighth grade geography textbook. He said students using the textbook had been misled into believing that Saraikistan and Hazara were also provinces in the country.

He asked the court to direct the Gulberg SHO to register a treason, forgery and cheating case against the suspects.

The Gulberg SHO requested the court to dismiss the petition. He said the action mentioned in the complaint could not be categorised as an offence under Section 124/A of the Pakistan Penal Code (sedition).  He said it could also not be considered cheating, fraud or forgery under the PPC or any other penal law.

The SHO said the complainant had mentioned the CM as a suspects. However, he added that the contents of the complaint failed to show that the CM’s office had any role in the publication of the textbook.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2015.