Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday penned a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial urging him to ensure the fundamental rights of Fawad Chaudhry who was earlier in the day remanded into police custody for two days by an Islamabad court.
The letter comes after the PTI leader was sent on remand in a sedition case — which has invited severe criticism not only from his party but also from senior members of the government.
In his letter to the CJP, the former prime minister mentioned that as the top judge is the custodian of the constitution, he requests him to “ensure that honor and dignity of Mr Fawad Ch [are] not violated”.
چئیرمین تحریک انصاف عمران خان نے چیف جسٹس پاکستان کے نام خط لکھ دیا
دوران حراست سینئیر نائب صدر PTI فواد چوہدری کے آئینی حقوق کے تحفظ کی اپیل
دوران حراست سینیٹر اعظم سواتی اور ڈاکٹر شہباز گل سے پیش آنے والے پرتشدد اور غیرانسانی سلوک کا حوالہ pic.twitter.com/7k0V2HOQ3R
— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 28, 2023
The former prime minister brought up the “inhuman” treatment Senator Azam Swati and PTI leader Shahbaz Gill received when they were in the care of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in two different incidents.
In breach of Articles 9, 10A, and 14, which deal with the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech, and the inviolability of a person’s dignity, the PTI leader feared the previous information minister would experience similar mistreatment.
Fawad — who is facing sedition charges for publicly “threatening” the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a media talk — was arrested from his Lahore residence on Wednesday after a case was registered against him at the Kohsar Police Station in Islamabad.
Moreover, PTI Chairman Khan earlier attacked the authorities in a string of tweets, claiming that the way Fawad was brought before the court was evidence of the administration’s “vindictiveness.”
The law of the jungle now prevails where might is right & the Constitution & law of the land have been totally subjugated by the Pharaohs of today.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 28, 2023
Referring to the current government and its leaders as “pharaohs”, Khan also underscored the treatment meted out to PTI leaders Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill as proof that the country was in disarray.
“Taking Fawad to court handcuffed and head/face covered like a terrorist shows the low and vindictive levels [the] imported government and state have reached,” he said.
“The treatment of Fawad and Azam Swati and Gill before him leaves no doubt in people’s mind that now we are a banana republic,” the ex-prime minister, who was ousted last April, said.
