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ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: Civil Judge, Islamabad, Irfan Ahmed Sheikh on Saturday granted a three-day remand in the case of a former official of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Khalid Khawaja, when he was produced before the court after his mysterious disappearance on Friday.
Khalid Khawaja was picked up by the authorities on Friday for allegedly inciting people to violence against the government. The police have booked the accused under Section 295 A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for allegedly insulting religious beliefs of others — the maximum punishment of which is 10 years — and Section 188 PPC for showing disobeying government orders.
He has been accused of allegedly distributing hate material through pamphlets outside Lal Masjid in Aabpara, Advocate Hashmat Habib, the legal counsel of the accused told Dawn.
"The entire case is an afterthought," he told reporters while sitting outside the District Courts Islamabad in handcuffs surrounded by his family and well wishers.
"I was blindfolded and kept in some cell for questioning and shifted to Aabpara Police Station at midnight between Friday and Saturday," he said, adding that he was kidnapped by unidentified persons in civilian clothes who also kept on apologising for kidnapping him.
“This is an insult to an ex-serviceman who pays Rs2 million as income tax each year,” he told the court after being given the permission to speak.
Khalid Khawaja is vigorously pursuing the case of missing people at different forums and was seen in different anti-government demonstrations held in Islamabad from time to time.
The local administration believes that he is the man behind troubles for them in resolving the issue of demolition of 'unauthorised' mosques in Islamabad as he was also acting as a coordinator between the government and the ulema.
RELEASE DEMANDED: The chief coordinator of the Defence of Human Rights Council (DHRC), Amna Masood Khawaja, has said that even people working for human rights in the country were not safe from excesses of the agencies, reports PPI.
Speaking at a press conference with Mrs Khalid Khawaja and Mrs Hafeezullah Piracha here on Saturday, she termed the arrest of Khalid Khawaja illegal. Khalid Khawaja was working as a “bridge” between the Islamabad district administration and students of the Madressah Hafsa on the prevailing deadlock over demolition of mosques in Islamabad.
Ms Amna expressed her regrets over the “kidnapping” of Khalid Khawaja and demanded his early release. She said Khalid Khawaja was working for the missing persons and was a ray of hope for them.
She said government secret agencies had arrested him just to keep him away from efforts being made for the recovery of missing persons.
