Non-bailable arrest warrant for Marriyum issued in hate speech case

LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) once again issued a non-bailable arrest warrant on Saturday against Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Spokesperson and former minister for information and bradcastign Marriyum Aurangzeb in an alleged hate speech case.

Meanwhile, the ATC Judge opted to cancel the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against PMLN leader Mian Javed Latif after he appeared before the court.

At the hearing on Saturday, Advocate Farhad Ali Shah representing Javed Latif and Marritum Aurangzeb appeared before the court. ATC Judge Abher Gul Khan inquired about the whereabouts of the suspects and was informed that Latif had appeared while Aurangzeb had not.

Consequently, the judge issued non-bailable arrest warrant for the former information minister and directed all suspects named in the case to appear before the court on December 9.

The issuance of the warrant came after the political leaders’ initial failure to appear in court. The judge set December 9 as the deadline for the prosecution to respond to the former information minister’s application seeking acquittal.

In her plea Marriyum Aurangzeb asserted that she played no role in the alleged incitement through her speeches in talk shows. She distanced herself from any claims made against her during these shows emphasising her innocence and requesting acquittal.

A terrorism case was registered against the two PMLN leaders as well as state-run Managing Director Sohail Khan and others for allegedly trying to incite hatred by using the religion card against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

Mian Javed Latif and Marriyum Aurangzeb were alleged to have made the controversial remarks at the behest of their party leadership in order to spread religious hatred against Imran Khan.