Imran Khan Niazi, a former Pakistani prime minister, was booked on Sunday for threatening a judge and two high-ranking police officers at a public assembly on Saturday in Islamabad. The Anti-Terrorism Act led to the arrest of the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (ATA). In accordance with Section 7 of the ATA, a FIR has been launched against Niazi for opposing judicial and law enforcement officials.
Additionally, there are rumors that Niazi may be arrested soon or within the next few days. Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah stated that the government was considering filing a complaint against the former prime minister for making provocative remarks and threatening state institutions while addressing the crowd.
Speaking to a crowd in public, Niazi vowed to bring lawsuits against senior police officers, a female magistrate, the Pakistani electoral commission, and political rivals over the treatment of his assistant Shahbaz Gill, who was detained last week on sedition-related allegations.
The leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf allegedly continued a habit of attacking the military and other institutions in his address, according to Sanaullah.
“This is all continuing,” the minister said, “from a campaign after the Lasbela incident, where six army officers were killed, to Gill’s attempt to incite army ranks to defy their top command, and then Imran threatening a woman judge and police officials for carrying out their duties in accordance with the law.”
His comments came hours after the former prime minister attacked state institutions and made provocative remarks while speaking at the gathering, and after Pakistan’s electronic media body forbade satellite television channels from airing live speeches of the ousted leader.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said that despite repeated warnings, television networks had not put in place a time-delay system to halt the broadcast of content critical of “state institutions.”
The regulator claimed that the media code of conduct and Article 19 of the Constitution were both broken by his speeches.
The media party responded angrily to the chairman’s ban, calling Shehbaz Sharif’s administration a fascist one.
Niazi has announced that he will speak at a gathering later on Sunday at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh grounds.
