PTI leader and party spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry's arrest and application of draconian laws such as sedition has stirred the troubled waters of Pakistani politics.
The Vice President of PTI, Chaudhry was picked up from his home in Lahore on Wednesday morning, for inciting violence against the Election Commission. A FIR was registered against Chaudhry at the Kohsar police station in Islamabad on the complaint of Secretary of the Election Commission Umar Hameed. His complaint invokes sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station.
The charge of sedition has shoved Chaudhry into the ranks of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Javed Hashmi, Ali Wazir, Shahbaz Gill, to name only a few.
The sedition law is a colonial era relic, which is used against political and human rights activists, and others for exercising their freedom of expression to criticize the government and its institution. It is “a tool of operation”, wrote Reema Omer for Dawn.
She added, “While it is rare for such charges to result in convictions, the charges and arrests alone are enough to harass, intimidate and attempt to silence dissenters, as well as chill the exercise of freedom of expression.”
This could be true for Chaudhry as well. “His two day physical remand suggests that he has a lot of trouble ahead,” said senior journalist Talat Husain.
Good or bad, Chaudhry’s arrest is a result of his own actions and is clearly a repeat of the PTI/Imran Khan tactics of vendetta. “It’s karma,” says Husain.
Activist Ammar Ali Jan tweeted: “We were against sedition laws when PTI used them and we are against them when they are being used against PTI. Sedition laws are a colonial relic meant to suppress the public. Placing sedition charges on Fawad Chaudhry will only aggravate the current crisis.”
https://twitter.com/ammaralijan/status/1618136255187030016
Fawad Chaudhry may not get a bail easily as he has committed ‘rebellion’ quite openly, and this crime invites a life sentence. In the cases of such kind, decisions are made keeping the country’s situation in consideration, said Awais Babar during Naya Daur’s flagship programme, Khabar Sey Aagay.
He added that Fawad Chaudhry incited the masses to treason – “When you incite people against someone’s family, it amounts to a crime.”
He added that the perception that the establishment built around powerful people isn’t going to go away with the arrest and it will take time.
Observing the situation in the backdrop of the incidents today, journalist Tajamul Bukhari said the PML-N may not find it easy to arrest PTI chairman Imran Khan in the days to come.
Journalist Sajjad Anwar said that the PTI is trying to establish itself as the biggest anti-establishment entity. The panelists agreed that Fawad Chaudhry's arrest was a strong signal for former PM Imran Khan and his associates that the state institutions were changing the policy of ignoring continued attacks and threats.
Keeping all other factors aside, including the PTI’s unacceptable conduct on social media, analyst Fauzia Yazdani said, “one should condemn the arrest – as such incidents divide the society.”
It remains to be seen whether the signal to Imran Khan will work. It could backfire and increase PTI's popularity further in case Khan continues to ratchet up the pressure on state institutions - the military, the election commission and the Supreme Court.