KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday disc­harged Barrister Has­saan Khan Niazi, a nephew of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imr­an Khan, in a case pertaining to allegedly inciting mutiny and sedition.

Mr Niazi, who is also the PTI’s focal person on legal affairs, was arrested in Islamabad on March 20 in a case related to misbehaving with police officials as he was leaving the Federal Judicial Comp­lex after securing pre-arrest bail in three other cases related to violence that took place on Feb 28 and March 18 when Mr Khan appeared at the complex.

The Punjab police had brought him to Karachi on transitory remand in a case lodged against him at the Jamshed Quarters police station.

The investigating offi­cer produced Mr Niazi before judicial magistrate (East) Sibghatullah and sought his 14-day physical remand in police custody for questioning and investigation.

The magistrate noted the case was that while giving an interview to the media through WhatsApp on March 26, Mr Niazi had allegedly said there would be countrywide warfare and nobody would be taken into consideration if Mr Khan was arrested.

The complainant, Moha­mmad Iqbal, alleged that the PTI leader was instigating the general public against law enforcement agencies and government.

The judicial magistrate observed that after hearing the defence counsel, investigating officer and the state prosecutor and perusal of the case record, it appeared that the FIR was lodged against Mr Niazi under Sections 121, 124-A, 153-A, 505 and 34 of the PPC “without adopting legal procedure”. There­fore, he ruled, Mr Niazi was discharged in terms of Section 63, CrPC, subject to executing a bond in sum of Rs50,000.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2023