Former lawmaker and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar Awan on Thursday echoed sentiments expressed by party supremo Nawaz Sharif that certain retired army officials need to face accountability for their actions.
He said this while speaking to reporters outside the district courts in Lahore. Safdar was appearing before the court in a case of making speeches against state institutions and treason.
Safdar's comments come days after PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif demanded accountability of retired military officers and judges who had all played their part in ousting him, engineering elections and contributing to the economic slide of the country.
During the hearing, Judicial Magistrate Bilal Munir Warraich noted the attendance of Safdar.
Safdar's lawyer, Farhad Ali Shah, argued that the case was politically motivated. He added that the prosecution had failed to present any concrete evidence, neither in audio nor video formats, to prove Safdar had uttered the speech. No record of the contents of the speech were presented either.
Moreover, no one from the allegedly disparaged institutions appeared before the court.
Further, Shah argued that the proper legal procedure was not adopted while including serious charges such as treason in the FIR. Instead, Shah contended that certain officers of a powerful security agency used their influence to have the FIR registered against Safdar.
Shah argued that the law under which Safdar was being prosecuted was created by the British to quell rebellion and that the government used it to register a fake case.
On the charge that Safdar prevented police officers from carrying out their official duties, Shah argued that this was a fake charge, and the prosecution could not provide any forensic evidence of that.
He added that apart from Safdar, Jahanzaib Awan and 10-12 other unidentified people were included in the FIR, but none of these suspects were produced during the trial.
Shah urged the court to dispose of the case and acquit his client.
The court then reserved judgment in the case until later on Thursday.