ISLAMABAD: A local court in the federal capital on Friday sent Dr. Shahbaz Gill, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former prime minister Imran Khan’s chief of staff, to jail on judicial remand, rejecting a request by police to extend the suspect’s physical remand.
Gill was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, a day after controversial comments on a talk show aired by a private news channel, asking army officers not to follow orders of their top command if they were “against the sentiments of the masses.”
Local media reported Gill told the judge police had kept him awake at night and tortured him, saying investigators had not carried out a medical examination and lawyers were not being allowed to meet him.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan took to the twitter and condemned what he said was “torture being inflicted on Shahbaz Gill.”
“Under what law & under who’s orders is this being done? If he broke any law then he shd be given a fair hearing,” Khan said. “All laws are being violated with impunity.”
On Monday, the country’s national media regulator issued a show cause notice to ARY News, the channel on which Gill’s comments were aired, describing them as “seditious.” The channel has also been off air since Monday night.
A day earlier, on Thursday, a Karachi court released Ammad Yousaf, the news director at ARY News, while the Sindh High Court directed Pakistan’s media regulator and cable operators to restore the channel’s transmission immediately.