Non-bailable arrest warrant out for Gill in sedition case

ISLAMABAD: The Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Islamabad, Tahir Abbas Sipra, has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill in a sedition case here on Tuesday. The PTI leader faces multiple cases since making controversial comments about the military establishment on a private TV channel. In August of last year, he was arrested by the federal government on charges of sedition and inciting the public against state institutions. The PTI leader is currently in the United States. A sedition and arms recovery case had been registered against Gill last year in August. He was arrested and stayed in detention for over a month but got released on bail from the Islamabad High Court, which restricted the authorities to arrest him. The court adjourned the hearing for a brief period and called for both parties to present their arguments. It also asked the police to submit a report.

In March, the former special assistant to the prime minister flew to the US after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) as per the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC). He was allowed to travel abroad for one month but he later filed a new plea seeking an extension in his stay in the US. Gill’s lawyer, Murtaza Toori, appeared before the trial court for a plea seeking the PTI leader’s exemption from the hearing. Toori filed a request to become a party in the case before the court. At the outset of the hearing, the prosecution represented by Prosecutor General Raja Rizwan Abbasi’s junior lawyer moved the court to cancel Gill’s bail. The defence lawyer maintained that the duty magistrate had ordered that a relevant judge will announce the verdict on the plea for Gill’s exemption from the hearing. At this, the prosecution contended that the duty judge had ordered to announce the verdict today. Later, the court cancelled Gill’s bail and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for him while announcing a reserved verdict. The development comes days after Gill registered himself as PTI’s “foreign agent” in the United States. Gill registered himself as the party’s foreign agent under the US Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) and was issued a registration number by the US Department of Justice. The court adjourned further hearing of the case till June 26.