ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was told on Tuesday that police had stopped Mohammad Rashid – the man accused of conducting a defamatory campaign against a certain judge of the Supreme Court – at 3:00am on May 23 of this year, but did not check the contents of the banners he was transporting.

In a report to the apex court, police said the suspect was travelling on a car bearing the registration number JMF-300 and was stopped by policemen deployed at the Kashmir Chowk picket. The banners were folded and policemen did not open them to check their content.

In Islamabad, advertisements are governed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) under the Control of Advertisement Regulations, 1977. CDA has also special teams to check for illegal banners and advertisements, but police received no reports of objectionable banners from the authority even though it removed 14 banners containing objectionable content on May 23 and May 24 and filed cases against the Ulema Council and the Farzandan-e-Islam under Section 46 of the CDA Ordinance, 1960 in the court of a special CDA magistrate.

The police report was submitted in the court of Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk by Deputy Attorney General Ahmed Hussain on behalf of Assistant Inspector General Police Sultan Azam Temuri.

Report submitted to CJ holds CDA responsible for checking banners’ content

“As far as the inability of police/CDA to prevent display of banners is concerned, it is submitted that police officials are deployed at nakas, or pickets, to check criminals and terrorists, hence their focus essentially remains on checking explosives, arms, narcotics and other illegal items,” said the compliance report.

The member bench, headed by the chief justice, had taken up the case of the defamatory banners.

The issue cropped up after banners criticising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja popped up in the capital around the time when the Supreme Court was hearing a case of Geo TV.

On Tuesday the court was informed that the police officials deployed at the Kashmir Chowk picket had stopped and checked a car bearing registration number JMF-300 driven by the mastermind behind the banner plot Mohammad Rashid containing the banners on the night of May 22-23 at around 0300 hours.

The fresh report submitted before the Supreme Court also mentioned Mohammad Rashid’s confession, who had claimed that he had not displayed any banner inside the Red Zone. In his statement before the magistrate, he revealed that he obtained information about the relationship between Justice Khawaja and owner of the Geo Network, Mir Shakilur Rehman, through the ARY News programme Khara Such, hosted by Mubasher Lucman.

Talking about his motivation to put up the banners, Rashid said he was offended by the telecast of ‘blasphemous content’ on Geo TV and he felt frustrated when no action was taken against the channel.

At the same time, he found out that the Geo TV case was being heard by Justice Khawaja. After he found out about their relationship, the suspect said, he became agitated and decided to put up the banners.

With regard to the involvement of any organisation in the banner plot, police submitted that during the course of investigation, no evidence surfaced that would indicate that Rashid was working with any other accomplices or associates.

The report also said that departmental proceedings against 32 police officials have been initiated, out of which 11 officers have been awarded major punishments, such as a reduction in rank and pay.

However, the court adjourned further proceedings for August 19, with orders to ascertain out the identity of those who were actually behind the brazen display of the defamatory banners against a Supreme Court judge.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2014