A local court in the federal capital on Monday approved a three-day physical remand of Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib.
The former military officer was presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah after he was arrested by the Islamabad Police earlier in the day on charges of inciting the public against national institutions. 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, the opposition and the 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 the purpose. The prosecutor then requested the court to approve 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 lawyer also contended that the case against the retired general was registered on “political grounds”, adding that his client was also being harassed.
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.
Earlier in the day, cops from the Ramna Police Station apprehended the former army officer from his residence in the federal capital after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him. The FIR 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, filed on the complaint of Islamabad Magistrate Owais Khan, the former army officer incited people to revolt against institutions and attempted to provoke disharmony, and anarchy and create a law and order situation in the country through his controversial statements made on a TV show.
