LAHORE: PML-N MNA Javed Latif was released from Kot Lakhpat jail on bail on Thursday in a case of “inciting people against the state institutions”.

The PML-N workers accorded the MNA a warm welcome when he reached his Sheikhupura constituency after being released from the jail. A sessions court had on Wednesday granted Mr Latif post-arrest bail.

Advocate Farhad Ali Shah had argued on behalf of Latif that the FIR was baseless and a result of political victimisation. He said police were not competent to take cognisance of the alleged offence mentioned in the FIR.

Township police had registered the FIR against the opposition lawmaker on the complaint of a citizen, Jameel Saleem, under sections 120/120B, 153/153A, 500, 505(i)(B) and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The PPC sections deal with the offences of causing incitement against the state institutions including the army and promoting enmity between different groups.

In a television programme, Mr Latif had said his party (PML-N) would not say “Pakistan Khappay” (long live Pakistan) if anything happened to its vice president Maryam Nawaz.

He was arrested on April 27 after a sessions court withdrew his pre-arrest bail.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2021