ISLAMABAD - Former three-star army officer Lt Gen Amjad Shoaib was arrested by the Islamabad police early Monday morning on the charges of inciting the public against national institutions. Later, he was produced before a local court of Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah in Islamabad who approved his three-day police remand. Lt Gen (R) Amjad Shoaib, who gives his analysis and comments during TV talk shows, also runs his Youtube channel. The prosecution informed the court about the case registered against Lt Gen (R) Shoaib and sought seven-day physical remand, however, the court approved only three-day remand. Prosecutor Adnan contended before the judge that the former general, through his statement on a TV channel, tried to spread hate between the government, the opposition and the government employees, which is a very serious offense against the state.
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The court was told by the prosecutor that they required a photogrammetric test of the former military officer and had to take him to Lahore for the purpose, for which such a facility is available. However, Lt Gen (r) Shoaib’s counsel Mudassir Khalid Abbasi opposed the granting of the physical remand and requested the court to discharge the case. The lawyer said the sections inserted in the FIR do not apply to Amjad Shoaib and told the court that his client only gave an example of a certain situation. The lawyer also contended before the court that the case against Gen Amjad Shoaib was registered purely on “political grounds”. The retired general’s other lawyer Qaiser Imam told the court that the former military officer had admitted uttering the words and there was no need to conduct photogrammetric and voice matching tests. However, the prosecution told the magistrate that it was necessary for the trial to carry out the tests. Riasat Ali Azad, Shoaib’s third lawyer, told the court that his client was a patriot who had fought the 1965 and 1971 wars. The lawyers of the former military officer then requested the court to discharge the case, while the prosecution opposed the request to discharge the case.
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The case was registered against Amjad Shoaib at the Ramna police station under Sections 153A and 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The case was registered on the complaint of Islamabad magistrate Awais Khan following his interview on a private news channel.