Posters such as the ones pictured had been placed in major cities. PHOTO: FILE
While issuing notices on a contempt petition, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ordered the IGP and SHO to produce the detained chairman of Move On Pakistan (MOP) before the court. MOP Chairman Mohammad Kamran, was arrested by the police on July 20 despite having been granted protective bail by the IHC.
The main case is over the party’s placement of banners in major cities. The text on some banners calls on the army chief to extend his tenure, and the text of other banners has been construed by the government and some independent commentators to be implicit requests for a military coup.
The party has denied this and claims the words are being taken out of context.
Meanwhile, the court granted interim pre-arrest bail to two party officials, Ali Raza and Asif Iqbal, till July 22. The court had granted protective bail to all of them on July 15 against the surety of Rs20,000 each with directions to appear before the court by July 22.
The police had arrested the party chairman before they could appear before any court.
The petitioners through their counsel, Sardar Taimoor Aslam, said that the banners were never displayed to support the idea of martial law instead they were put up urging the army chief to take extension in his service.
The counsel said that the police officials deliberately defied court orders as Kamran presented the legal documents to the police when they came to arrest him, but instead of acknowledging the orders, the SHO tore them up.
He alleged that Kamran’s family and party workers in Faisalabad are continuously being harassed on the orders of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
After the posters and banners were propped up, the Secretariat police had registered cases of sedition, criminal conspiracy, and public mischief against unidentified men for inciting people against the government.
In the FIR, the suspects have been accused of inciting a conspiracy against the government and provoking hatred against the state institutions. The police stated in the FIR that the case was registered after a police patrol noticed the controversial banners.
In the petition, Aslam claims the MOP campaign has been misinterpreted as the party and the petitioners are not calling for the imposition of martial law and only for an Gen Sharif to accept an extension.
The petitioners said that they placed the banners across the country to express their opinions in a legal and proper manner without aiming to incite the public to commit any violence.
The next hearing is on Thursday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2016.
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