A court in Islamabad has on Wednesday approved the bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry in the sedition case registered against him.
The PTI leader is accused of “threatening” the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a press conference, He was arrested from his residence in Lahore on January 25 after a case was registered against him at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station.
Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Gillani approved the former federal information minister’s bail plea. The judge granted bail on a conditional basis, saying that Fawad should not make such remarks in the future.
Read also: Arresting Fawad Earlier Would’ve Saved Punjab Govt, Says Elahi
Former chief minister Punjab Parvez Elahi has said that PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry’s earlier arrest would have saved the provincial government from dissolution.
A day earlier, a district and sessions court of the federal capital granted police a two-day physical remand of the PTI leader, following his arrest for threatening the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governors and the Election Commission.
Earlier that day, Lahore High Court dismissed a plea filed against Fawad’s ‘illegal detainment’, saying the counsel for the former information minister should approach Islamabad High Court to pursue the case.
The case was registered on Jan 24 on the complaint of Secretary ECP. The FIR had said that the accused had hurled verbal threats at the Commission and its members in a public speech to the media.
“This man’s arrest a week earlier would’ve saved our government,” Elahi said while addressing the PML-Q members in Lahore on Thursday.
He advised Mohsin Naqvi, the caretaker CM of the province, to fulfil the duties assigned to him in a rather ‘convenient’ manner, adding “do something good for the province before you leave [your office].”
Elahi further noted that Moonis, his son, is fond of him (Fawad Chaudhry) and that he had given him a ‘word of advice’ about it.
He questioned how a caretaker CM could resort to retaliatory actions, and urged Naqvi to announce a date for the elections. “Imran Khan will once again become the prime minister of the country.”
In a backlash the same day to Fawad’s arrest, ex-Premier Imran Khan asked the ECP to explain as to what made the basis of their decision to choose Mohsin Naqvi and reject other nominees for caretaker Punjab CM.
This decision, the PTI chief maintained, showed that the electoral authority was ‘in no mood’ to conduct elections.
“The first and foremost responsibility of Election Commission is to hold free and fair elections,” he had said.
According to Imran, Naqvi had been brought in as part of a plan to silence him, as he raised questions on the impartiality of the caretaker setup ahead of elections in the province.
