Court grants police two-day physical remand of Shahbaz Gill

After being presented in front of an Islamabad district and sessions court on Wednesday, a judicial magistrate granted police two days physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill.

The government acknowledged yesterday that Gill had been detained on accusations of sedition and inciting public dissent against state institutions; however, the PTI alleges that this was a “abduction [rather than] an arrest.”

Earlier today, police barred media from entering the courthouse, stating that the magistrate had issued a ban.Meanwhile, Gill was brought before Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir, who was accompanied by the accused’s legal lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry. The police asked for Gill’s physical remand for 14 days, but his lawyer objected.

“If we go to the high court, we would request that the case be dismissed,” said counsel Faisal Chaudhry, who also raised concern about “blood stains on Shahbaz Gill’s clothes.”

According to the lawyers, Gill “has told the court that there is a threat to his life if he is taken on physical detention.”As the advocate spoke to the journalists, PTI workers were be heard shouting “Pakistan Army Zindabad [long live].”

Gill told media representatives after the magistrate’s judgement that “this is a political case,” that the “Pakistan Army is the most holy institution,” and that “it is vital that we all respect the institutions.

“There is nothing to be embarrassed of in my words,” he stated outside the court, “the statements [were made] out of love for the army […] were not meant to anger anyone […] simply spoke about those bureaucratic authorities who had said incorrect things.”

Nonetheless, Magistrate Shabbir granted the police’s plea and issued two days’ physical remand. The court also ordered that Gill appear in court on August 12.