PESHAWAR: A court in Nowshera district on Saturday granted an interim pre-arrest bail to a nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan in a case of sedition and other offences.

Additional district and sessions judge Mohammad Asif fixed April 19 for next hearing into the petition of suspect Hassaan Niazi and ordered the local police to produce case records.

He also directed the petitioner to join the investigation and attend all hearings.

The FIR against Mr Niazi was registered by the Nowshera cantonment police station on March 29 on the complaint of Kaka Sahib resident Shabbiruddin.

The complainant claimed that he did labour work to earn a livelihood.

He said he watched a social media video, which showed Mr Niazi warning that if anything happened to PTI chief Imran Khan, “we [party workers] won’t care for any Haji or Hafiz.”

The complainant alleged that Mr Niazi tried to instigate people for sedition and rise up against the current and former army chiefs.

He added that the PTI chief’s nephew hurled ‘coded’ threats to those army chiefs.

The complainant claimed that there was a severe anger among the people against Mr Niazi and his “accomplices”, so action should be taken against them.

The FIR was registered under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code, including Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), Section 121 (waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan) and Section 124-A (sedition).

The petitioner denied the charges and contended that he had been implicated in a concocted case.

Mr Niazi was recently named in multiple cases registered by the police across the country.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2023