Farooq Naeem—AFP
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered authorities to remove sections related to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) from an ongoing case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for allegedly threatening a female judge and officers of Islamabad Police at a rally last month.
A two-member bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah announced the verdict on a PTI petition to quash the case against Khan, allowing proceedings to continue on other sections in the case filed against the former prime minister.
On Aug. 20, while addressing a rally in Islamabad, Khan warned Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and two senior police officials that they would not be spared for their role in the arrest and detention of his aide, Shahbaz Gill. Following his speech, the government registered a terrorism case against him under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Subsequently, investigators also added to the FIR Sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace); 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation); 186 (imprisonment for three months); and 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
During today’s hearing, Justice Minallah was informed by special prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi that a Joint Investigation Team formed by the Islamabad Police believed the terrorism sections were warranted in the case. After getting the prosecutor to read out loud the allegedly threatening portions of Khan’s speech, Justice Minallah said if the same argument were used, then “floodgates” would open for terrorism cases.
“Which politician does not say such things?” he asked, to the prosecutor’s reply that no one else had uttered such comments. Directing the prosecutor to not “go into details,” Minallah questioned the justification of a terror charge if Khan had not threatened any physical harm.
“It is to be seen who said these words,” argued the prosecutor. “He is not an ordinary person. That person is a former prime minister and can even be the future prime minister. Imran Khan’s political party has a strong social media following. There are educated and uneducated followers of Imran Khan,” he said, stressing that Khan had spoken of “taking action” rather than “legal action,” as has been claimed by the PTI in its chief’s defense.
Imran Khan’s lawyer, meanwhile, argued that some basic factors required to warrant terrorism charges were absent in the case. “A terror case can be lodged for creating an atmosphere of fear and terror, not on the possibility of creation of such an atmosphere,” he said.