Gill ready to apologise, court told

ISLAMABAD: The counsel for PTI leader and Imran Khan’s chief of staff Shahbaz Gill Monday told a district and sessions court that his client was ready to apologise and clear any misunderstanding.

The court will announce the verdict on Gill’s bail petition on Tuesday (today) at 11am after hearing arguments from both sides. Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal heard the case.

Gill was booked in a sedition and arms recovery case and is in jail after he was sent on a judicial remand following back-and-forth hearings and his counsel’s repeated allegations against the Islamabad police.

Gill was arrested on August 9 in Islamabad after a sedition case was filed against him for inciting mutiny in the Pakistan Army. Gill was already facing sedition charges, but the Islamabad Police last week also registered a case against him for possessing illegal weapons.

At the outset of the hearing, the police presented the case record in the court as directed by the judge in the last hearing, reports Geo. Gill’s lawyer Burhan Moazzam asked if he could see the case records submitted to the court by Inspector Arshad.

The court directed the inspector to show the record to the lawyer. However, prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi objected that they could not show the supplementary challan of the case. Later, the court adjourned the hearing shortly.

As the hearing restarted, Gill’s lawyer maintained that the police didn’t show the statement recorded under Section 161. “The police are showing all statements except for Gill’s,” the lawyer said. At this, the court directed the police to show Gill’s initial statement to the defence lawyer.

Giving arguments, Gill’s lawyer contended that the complainant of the case — city magistrate — had levelled allegations of sedition against the PTI leader after extracting different bits from the transcript of his remarks.

“Gill never thought about committing treason. There must be a misunderstanding about Gill’s statement which he is willing to clear,” he said. “An incorrect tweet was posted after the army aircraft accident and it later went viral. There is no fault of Shahbaz Gill in that,” the lawyer said, adding that the accused PTI leader even demanded punishment over the wrong tweet.

On the strategic media cell, Gill’s lawyer said the purpose of the cell was to create a rift between the PTI and the army and there was a mastermind behind it — whom he wouldn’t name. He said the mastermind provoked propaganda against Imran Khan and PTI.

“How could it be possible that Imran Khan or his party is against the martyrs of the Pakistan Army?” he asked. Making a reference to the Asia Bibi blasphemy case, the lawyer said a case was not valid if the accused hasn’t incited hate towards the army but the complainant said they had.

He said the PML-N insisted that Gill had committed treason against the army. “How can they give a meaning of their choice to Gill’s remarks?” he asked. “My client has and is standing by the army,” he added.