RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Sheikh Rashid Shafique, nephew of former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, was arrested on his arrival at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) from Saudi Arabia in connection with a blasphemy case on Sunday.

Mr Shafique was later remanded in the custody of the New Airport police for a day on the charge of posting a video on social media in which he was seen encouraging people who chanted slogans against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation inside the premises of Masjid-i-Nabwi.

The case was registered in Attock against former prime minister Imran Khan and other top figures of the previous government as well as 100 to 150 other people.

Mr Shafique was detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after he arrived at the IIA on a private airline from Jeddah. He was taken into custody by the FIA at 5:45am and handed over to the police.

Blasphemy case registered in Attock; ex-PM, top figures of previous govt among over 100 people nominated

The move came about days after pilgrims chanted slogans against the prime minister and his delegation in Masjid-i-Nabwi.

The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, has been registered under sections 295 (harming or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 296 (disturbing religious assembly).

The FIR registered on the complaint of Qazi Mohammad Tariq Advocate, named key PTI leaders, including Fawad Chaudhry, Shahbaz Gill, Qasim Suri, Sahibzada Jehangir, Aneel Musarrat as well as former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and 100 to 150 unidentified people.

According to the complainant, the incident at Masjid-i-Nabwi was carried out under a “planned and thought-out scheme and conspiracy”.

He said he felt hurt and was mentally disturbed after watching videos that were being shared on electronic and social media.

In the FIR, he said 100 to 150 people belonging to a political party were identified through videos.

It stated that miscreants shouted insulting slogans as members of the official delegation arrived at the holy mosque.

He alleged that Imran Khan Niazi, Fawad Chaudhry, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Shahbaz Gill, Murad Saeed and Qasim Suri were part of the conspiracy under which other PTI leaders led delegations to Saudi Arabia to carry out the actions at the holy mosque which were then posted on social media.

He said to execute the conspiracy, Mr Shafique along with a group of miscreants was dispatched from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia and on arriving in the kingdom some other people also joined them. Likewise, the FIR said Sahibzada Jehangir alias Chicho, Aneel Musarrat, Rana Abdul Sattar, Barrister Amir Ilyas, Ijazul Haq and Gohar Jilani and others were also involved in it.

The FIR said evidence of telephonic links among the suspects, video clips and circumstantial evidence would be produced during investigation.

Taxila

MNA Shafique was later remanded in the custody of the New Airport police for a day on the charge of posting a video on social media where he was seen encouraging people who chanted slogans against the prime minister and his delegation inside the premises of Masjid-i-Nabwi.

A case was registered against him under sections 295, 295-A and 296 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

On the night following the incident, MNA Shafique had posted a video from his mobile phone through his social media account which was made while he was in the mosque. In the video, he was seen supporting the treatment meted out to the government’s delegation.

Sources privy to the matter said MNA Shafique was shifted to an undisclosed location in a private car escorted by three police vans and led by the Elite Force.

The lawyer of the applicant sought a three-day police remand, so that the mobile phone from which the video was uploaded could be recovered, but this was refused by Duty Magistrate Mushtaq Hussain Janjua.

The MNA will be produced in court on Monday. — Amjad Iqbal from Taxila also contributed to this story

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2022