Following Captain (retd) Safdar Awan’s arrest for violating the sanctity of Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum and subsequent bail, the PML-N leader said on Tuesday that incompetent people were trying to teach him how to respect shrines.
A day earlier, the son-in-law of convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif was arrested from his hotel room by Sindh Police for chanting slogans of ‘vote ko izzat do’ [respect the vote] and Māder-e Millat [ long live Mother of the Nation] and at Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum in Karachi.
The arrest came in response to a case filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf local MPAs against Maryam Nawaz, Captain (retd) Safdar and other PML-N leaders.
“We are people who had been respecting mausoleums since generation,” Safdar said while talking to media. He added that he was not afraid of the FIRs registered in his name.”
Safdar vowed to continue chanting the same slogans he was put behind bars for at the Quaid’s mausoleum every October 18.
“I said Maadar-e-Millat Zindabad, Vote ko Izat do and I will continue to chant such slogan on every Oct 18. I do not fear the FIRs registered against me thy only aim to humiliate and embarrass,” he said speaking to the media after attending his pre-arrest bail plea.
“I will carry forward the message of Māder-e Millat and Nawaz Sharif,” he added.
He said Quadi-e-Azam founded Pakistan and it is our responsibility to protect it.
“I salute our judiciary that granted me bail yesterday,” he said adding that PML-N has complete confidence in the judicial system and will face the so-called FIRs.
On October 19, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz, while addressing a press conference, said that “Don’t blackmail me through my family and people around me. Come arrest me if you have courage.”
“Come arrest me, so the world could see your ugly face, though they are already seeing it today,” Maryam told a presser where she was flanked by leaders of other component parties of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – including Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of PPP.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was, however, conspicuous by his absence from the “important presser” which was arranged on an emergency basis to give a formal reaction from the PDM platform to Capt Safdar’s arrest.
Court proceedings
An anti-terrorism court extended the pre-arrest bails till October 23 of PML-N leader— Captain (retd) Safdar, Maryam Nawaz, Rana Sanaullah and others—for further arguments.
The petitioner’s counsel Syed Farhad Ali Shah argued that his clients are being subjected to political victimization, being implicated in forged cases.
He stated that his clients were cooperating in investigation and the police was only implicating those officials in who were not present at the venue. On the direction of the government, section 7ATA was inserted in FIR 23 days after the FIR was registered.
The prosecution opposed the bails contending that the petitioners along with others attacked NAB office and injured 13 police officials, they intervened in NAB routine matters, broke its windowpanes, hurled stones at police officials. So the bail pleas of accused petitioners be dismissed.
A scuffle had erupted between PML-N lawmakers and police officials a few weeks ago when PML-N vice-president Maryam Safdar had arrived at the NAB office. PMLN claimed their workers were injured while police claimed their 13 officials were badly injured after stones were hurled each other.
Later NAB official registered an FIR against 188 nominated MNAs, MPAs, workers including Maryam Nawaz, Captain retired Muhammad Safdar, Pervez Rasheed, Rana Sana Uallah, Pervez Malik, Javed Latif, several others and 300 unidentified persons.
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