ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court has ordered the authorities not toharass former ruling PTI leaders in connection with blasphemy casesfollowing a sloganeering incident at Masjid-e-Nabwi — one of the holiestplaces for Muslims.
Reports say IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Monday ordered the interiorsecretary to make sure that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders were notharassed while it also barred the government officials from taking actiontill the next hearing of the case.
The judge asked whether former information Fawad Chaudhry was still amember of the National Assembly on which the counsel said he resigned as anMNA but he has not yet to be de-notified.
Police have been directed not to arrest a lawmaker without asking theSpeaker of National Assembly.
PTI leaders have maintained that multiple FIRs could not be registeredregarding a single incident, further pointing out that the incidentoccurred in Saudi Arabia while cases were lodged in Pakistan.
Moreover, Justice Minallah also restricted the officials from apprehendingformer aide of ousted PM Shahbaz Gill on his return from the US. The formeraide of Imran Khan is currently in the States and is likely to return onMay 4.
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Gill’s counsel told the court that Sharif-led government lodged cases to‘settle political scores’, saying his client was falsely implicated in thecase.
The development comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf filed a petition seekingthe intervention of the court to end harassment by the central government aday after former premier Imran Khan, along with 150 others, were bookedunder the blasphemy law.
They were booked after allegedly being linked to the sloganeering incident.In viral clips, people spotted chanting ‘traitors’ and ‘thieves’ as PMShehbaz Sharif’s team members visited the holy mosque in Madina.
