LAHORE: Punjab police on Saturday registered a case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Javed Latif for “maligning” state institutions during a political talk show.
Last week, Latif, while talking to the news channel, said “if anything [bad] happens to Maryam Nawaz, the party will not chant ‘Pakistan khappay [Long live Pakistan]'” — a veiled reference to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari who raised the slogan after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007, a time when it was feared that separatists in Sindh could capture the anger at the incident.
The case against Latif was registered — and included sections 120, 120(B), 153, 153(A), 500, and 500(1)(B) — at the Township police station on the complaint of a Lahore resident, Jameel Saleem.
Saleem claimed the politician, by making the statements, “threatened” the country’s security, government, and state institutions. The lawmaker, he further said, sowed “seeds of hate” between the PPP and PML-N workers.
The complainant said the MP hurt the public sentiment to spread chaos in the country, thereby, violated the laws.
Last Sunday, Punjab Prisons Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan vowed to get a case registered against Latif over his remarks.
Speaking at a press conference, Chohan said he would file a case against the politicians who he said wanted to prove his loyalties by saying that he would not raise the slogan of “Pakistan khappay“.
He lamented that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to take action against the legislator.
JAVED SHOULD APOLOGISE: ABBASI
Separately, PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Javed had not uttered a single word against state institutions, but should still apologise for his remarks.
Abbasi was speaking to the media in Karachi when he came to the defence of his colleague. However, he maintained that he did not agree with Latif’s statement.
“I didn’t hear any statement of his against national institutions,” said Abbasi, adding that Javed had said he might not be able to say Pakistan khappay if anything happened to party Vice President Maryam Nawaz during a television programme.
Abbasi said Latif had uttered the remarks after getting carried away, and that he disagreed with the statement. “He should apologise”.
