Pro-Raheel Sharif banners: Two remanded to police

Defence counsel says banners meant to call for the extension of Protection of Pakistan Ordinance

ISLAMABAD: Police on Saturday obtained three-day physical remand of two men who had been arrested on Friday for putting up controversial banners that allegedly called upon the army chief to take over the government and impose martial law in the country.

On Friday, a day after an FIR was registered against unidentified persons for putting up the banners, police arrested a driver and an outdoor advertiser who were reportedly hired to display the banners in parts of the federal capital.

Police said Arshad Salamat and Faheem, the suspects, were seen in the Safe City Project cameras installing banners along Murree Road near the Convention Centre. A pick-up van, the suspects used has also been impounded. Both suspects are residents of Rawalpindi.

The banners that sprung up overnight in major cities of the country a few days ago had pictures of the COAS, Gen Raheel Sharif, with the caption “Jaane ki baatein hui purani, Khuda ke liye ab ajao”, seen as an invitation for the army to impose martial law in the country.

However, defence counsel Fazle Rabbi said the statement was not necessarily a call for the martial law.

Rather, he said, the banners were an attempt to call for the extension of the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, which expired a few days ago.

“We want Operation Zarb-e-Azb to continue against terrorists,” he said, while defending the suspects in the court of Judicial Magistrate Syed Haider Shah.

Rabbi said instead of arresting those who hired workers to put up the banners and whose mobile phone numbers were also given on the banners, the police had arrested his clients who came from poor families and made a living from outdoor advertising.

Inspector Muhammad Yaseen Bhutta, investigation officer for the case, said police needed to interrogate the suspects to nab the real culprits.

“If during investigation, these two are proven not guilty, we would release them,” said the inspector, who was assisted by a team of four government law officers.

“We need custody of the suspects for the purpose of investigation,” said a prosecutor, seeking five-day physical remand of the suspects.

Defence counsel said that police had interrogated his clients and recovered the banners from them and hence there was no justification for the physical remand.

He pleaded that suspects be sent to jail on judicial remand.

After hearing the arguments, Judicial Magistrate Syed Haider Shah allowed three-day police custody of the suspects and directed that they be produced before the court on July 19.

It is pertinent to mention here that the three office bearers of the “Move On Pakistan” party, which was behind the banners, appeared before the Islamabad High Court on Friday, and obtained a protective bail.

Those who obtained the bail included chairman of the party Mohammad Kamran and two other party officials, Ali Raza and Asif Iqbal.

Police said the trio were the prime suspects in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2016.