According to a report in Dawn, the PML-N leader and son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and another PML-N lawmaker were booked in a sedition case on Saturday. According to the FIR, in a meeting at the residence of PML-N member Usman Khalid Butt, Safdar allegedly talked about 'toppling the provincial and federal government through forceful protests'.
Butt, who is a provincial lawmaker, was also nominated in the FIR that was registered under sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 120(b) (punishment of criminal conspiracy), and 124(a) (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR further alleged that Safdar, who is also the husband of party vice president Maryam Nawaz, 'defamed and incited hate' against the armed forces. It alleged that Safdar told his supporters to besiege the house of the corps commander if he was arrested.
According to the FIR, the PML-N leader's 'aim was to disturb public peace'. Furthermore, Safdar said that the permission for a public rally on October 16 will have to be obtained 'by force'.
Later in the day, Lahore police registered a case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and other party leaders for ‘conspiring’ against the country and state institutions.
According to an FIR registered at Shahdara police station, the former prime minister was ‘carrying out a planned conspiracy to defame the country and its institutions by making inflammatory speeches’.
The FIR also implicates PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pervaiz Rashid, Maryam Nawaz, Rana Sanaullah and Marriyum Aurangzeb and others who participated in the PML-N’s Central Executive Committee and Central Working Committee meetings held last week, reported Dawn.
It said the Nawaz, who went to London for medical treatment, was facing corruption charges in the courts of Pakistan. However, instead of availing medical care in England, the PML-N leader was ‘conspiring’ against the country.
It alleges that in the speeches made on September 20 and October 1, the former premier supported the policies of neighbouring India, so that Pakistan would continue to remain on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’, reported the newspaper.