Incitement against institutions: Court approves retired general Amjad Shoaib's physical remand

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court sent on Monday Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib on a three-day physical remand after earlier reserving its verdict on a police plea seeking seven-day physical remand of the retired general, who was arrested on charges of inciting the public against national institutions.

The former military officer was presented in the court of judicial magistrate Abbas Shah today after his arrest.

The court rejected the police's plea and approved a three-day physical remand of Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib instead of a remand of seven days.

Personnel from the Ramna police station had taken the retired general into custody from his residence in the federal capital, Geo News had reported. A first information report (FIR) was filed last evening against the former army officer at the Ramna police station following a television interview.

The FIR was filed with magistrate Owais Khan as the complainant. It was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the FIR, the former military officer incited people to revolt against institutions during a television interview. Currently, he is in police custody and will be presented before a court today.

"Through his remarks and analysis, Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib has provoked government employees against carrying out their official duties. The aim of his controversial advice to the people, government employees and an opposition party is to comments is to promote enmity among the people."

The statement of the former military official, the FIR stated, is part of a "planned conspiracy" to weaken the country.

The former military officer had been previously summoned by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to appear on September 7 last year after he made claims about a meeting between the Pakistani prime minister and an Israeli team. However, he had failed to appear before the FIA's cybercrime wing as asked. He had had made a statement alleging that the prime minister had met with an Israeli delegation during a visit to a Gulf country.

Today's proceedings

During the hearing, the prosecution informed the court about the case registered against the former three-star general and requested a seven-day physical remand.

Prosecutor Adnan contended that the ex-general, through his statement on TV, tried to spread hate between the government, opposition and government employees.

The lawyer also told the court that they require a photogrammetric test of the former military officer and have to take him to Lahore for it.

The prosecutor then requested the court to approve a seven-day physical remand of Lt Gen (retd) Shoaib.

Meanwhile, Lt Gen (retd) Shoaib’s lawyer Mudassir Khalid Abbasi opposed the physical remand request and instead urged the court to discharge the case.

“The sections inserted in the FIR do not apply to Amjad Shoaib,” said the lawyer. He added that his client only gave an example of a certain situation.

The lawyer also contended that the case against Shoaib was registered on "political grounds", adding that his client was also being harassed.

“If legitimate criticism is wrong then eliminate opposition from the system,” argued Abbasi.

Shoaib’s other lawyer Qaiser Imam told the court that the former military officer had admitted uttering the words and there was no need to conduct photogrammetric and voice matching tests.

However, the prosecution told the magistrate that it was necessary for the trial to carry out the tests.

Moving on, Riasat Ali Azad, Shoaib’s third lawyer, told the court that his client is a patriot. He also shared that his client had fought the 1965 and 1971 wars.

All three lawyers of the former military officer then requested the court to discharge the case. Meanwhile, the prosecution opposed the request to discharge the case.

The court then reserved its verdict. It later approved a three-day physical remand.