Pir Zaheerul Hasan Shah, the vice-emir of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Paki­stan (TLP), has been booked in a terrorism case, it emerged on Monday, as the government vowed an “iron fist” response to elements inciting violence against the country’s top judge.

The development comes after the TLP held a series of gatherings last week in various parts of the country against the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Mubarak Sani case, which was recently reviewed by the apex court in light of a plea filed by the Punjab government.

Sani was booked under sections 7 and 9 of the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Act, 2011, for a crime he allegedly committed in 2019. However, the Supreme Court had ruled that the said provisions were made part of the law in 2021, two years after the crime was allegedly committed.

At one of the gatherings outside the Lahore Press Club, where TLP chief Saad Rizvi was also in attendance, Shah had delivered remarks amounting to incitement of violence against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.

While the party vice emir had clarified that he was speaking in a personal capacity, the remarks drew immediate condemnation from official circles.

The TLP vice-emir, along with 1,400-1,500 unnamed suspects, was booked by Lahore’s Qila Gujjar Singh police last night, according to the first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.

The FIR, filed on the complaint of Station House Officer Hammad Hussain, was registered under sections 6 (terrorism), 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism), and 11W (printing, publishing, or disseminating any material to incite hatred or giving projection to any person convicted for a terrorist act or any proscribed organisation or an organisation placed under observation) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

It further invoked sections 337(i) (shajjah, intentionally causing hurt), 337(ii), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 116 (abetment of offence), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 505(ii) (statements conducing to public mischief), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence), 290 (public nuisance) and 291 (continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

In the FIR, the complainant said he was performing his duties at the Lahore Press Club where the TLP event was taking place.

He quoted remarks made in Punjabi by Shah on the occasion, and mentioned that a head money of Rs10m was offered for engaging in violence against the top judge.

The complaint added that Shah “threatened” the CJP and “spread religious hatred” through his statement. It further said that the group had blocked roads and gathered despite the imposition of Section 144, which banned such an assembly.

‘Vested political interests’ behind statement

Meanwhile, Pakistani government officials strongly condemned the remarks against the top judge and vowed to take strict action against “those spreading lies about him”.

Addressing a joint press conference today, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the remarks, stating that elements with “vested political interests” were “spreading blood and violence” in the name of religion.

“As you all know [certain elements] are trying to incite people to killings on social media through extremist posts. If such things are being said in the name of a blessed religion, then there is nothing more insulting for the religion,” Asif said.

“The state will take action against this because things being said about Qazi sahab is based on lies and he has been targeted through different tactics for the last few years.”

The defence miniter added that the Supreme Court had issued a judgment in the Mubarak Sani case but the elements concerned were still spreading propaganda based on lies.

“The state will not allow you to issue a fatwa (decree) to kill someone. If we allow this, the writ of the state will crumble,” Asif said.

Echoing the SC order, Asif said that the finality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a fundamental part of Islam, without which one cannot be called a Muslim.

“Khatm-i-Nabuwat (finality of the Prophethood) is a fundamental part of our faith,” he said. “Our religion is one of love. We need to demonstrate that side of our faith to the world, not this side that weakens our faith.”

He added that the state has systems in place to prevent this group from making false allegations.

“No group can incite violence in the name of faith or politics. We will use the full force of the law to bring them to justice,” he said, adding that the state will not accept dictation by any group.

“The Constitution must govern this state and justice must be delivered,” Asif said before the planning minister delivered his address.

Iqbal said inciting violence against the chief justice and offering a Rs10 million reward for taking his life was an “open rebellion against Pakistan’s Constitution”.

Referring to a 2018 assassination attempt on him, he said he had also been a target of “these people”, calling the attack on him a “political act to eliminate the PML-N’s leadership by weaponising the finality of Prophethood”.

“Back in 2017-2018, when this group propped up under a political agenda, I said that all of us are Muslims and all Muslims fundamentally believe in the finality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” Iqbal said.

“Pakistan has a Constitution, laws, and court, and no individual or group has the right to issue fatwas. Only our courts have the authority to judge and punish.”

The minister warned that if such groups were allowed to continue issuing such decrees, then the country would be “bathed in fire and blood”.

Iqbal then referred to the ‘Paigham-i-Pakistan’ — a declaration developed and signed by Pakistan’s ulema calling for unity and a unanimous narrative to counter extremism — explaining that within that document, the ulema had condemned issuing death threats, suicide bombings, and terrorism.

“The ulema said that none of these are related to Islam,” Iqbal highlighted.

“Islam believes in the good of people and forbids killing — killing one person is akin to killing the human race,” the planning minister said. “Yet there are people getting murdered in our streets, like that Sri Lankan man in Sialkot.

“We had to endure shame and embarrassment on the global stage after that, then again after Jaranwala, Sargodha and Swat,” Iqbal said, referring to incidents of mob violence in the past year.

“People commit these acts to prop themselves up politically, but they only harm religion and the image of our state.”

The planning minister reiterated that the government strictly forbade the issuance of death threats and no group or person had the right to decide someone’s faith.

“Not only will we condemn this, but we will launch an investigation into this so it never happens again,” he vowed.

Govt, clerics agree to curb religious intolerance

Separately, clerics belonging to different schools of thought and the government agreed that nobody would be allowed to take the law into their own hands in the name of religion, Radio Pakistan reported.

Addressing a joint news conference with clerics in Rawalpindi today, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar strongly condemned the issuance of fatwas (decrees) against CJP Isa.

He said the issue had “gone beyond condemnation” and “would be dealt with an iron fist”.

Tarar asserted there was “no space in our society” for such inciting remarks, adding that there were “political motives” behind them. He further highlighted that a case under the anti-terrorism laws had been registered.

He also called out the religiopolitical group for issuing “politically motivated false statements” against the top judge and said that there was no room for such rhetoric in Pakistan.

“There is no room for such statements in the State of Pakistan and it will not be tolerated,” Tarar said on the X platform.

“Qazi sahab did not announce a decision in favour of any group based on which this hateful narrative is being propagated. We strongly condemn and strongly deny such statements, as such mentality is causing serious damage to Pakistan,” his post said.

In his condemnation, Pakistan Ulema Council head Tahir Ashrafi said that ulema had always condemned violent sentiments, adding that such remarks would hurt their cause.