A case against the Move on Pakistan party’s Chairman Mohammad Kamran has been lodged at Purani Anarkali Police Station under sections 120, 124 and 505 for putting up posters across the city urging Gen Raheel Sharif to impose martial law and form a government of technocrats.
Party chairman, Mohammad Kamran and his aides Asif Iqbal and Ali Raza approached the Islamabad High Court some two days ago which granted them protective bail until July 22 after a case was lodged against them in the federal capital on July 14 for alleged criminal conspiracy.
However, the subsequent messages on Facebook changed after Inter-Services Public Relations clarified that the army or any of its subordinate institution had nothing to do with the posters and flexes.
Ali Hashmi, the central chief organiser of the party, said that the goal of their campaign was to suggest to COAS that after imposing martial law a government of technocrats should be made in Pakistan and Gen Raheel should himself supervise it.
On July 13, the party stated that their messages have been misinterpreted and denied inviting the Chief of Army Staff to impose Martial Law.
For now, the chairman of the party is on a protective bail against surety bonds of Rs 20,000 and the Islamabad High Court has summoned him along with his associates on July 22 while the respondents in the case are Inspector General of Police and Interior Ministry.
Earlier, a little-known outfit of Punjab had put up posters in 13 cities across the country with its leaders urging Gen Raheel Sharif to impose martial law and form a government of technocrats.
The banners and posters had been put up in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Hyderabad, etc, by the Move on Pakistan party and, unlike its earlier campaign requesting the army chief to reconsider his retirement in November, the message this time around is more ominous.
The banners sprung up overnight on all the major boulevards in the cities despite the presence of several security checkpoints and patrol.
One banner hanging at a traffic intersection on the road between the Rangers headquarters and the Chief Minister House in Karachi reads Jaanay ki baatain hui puraani, Khuda k liye ab ajao (‘Talk of leaving has gotten old. For God’s sake just take over’). The Move on Pakistan party — which has little grass-roots support — has been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan for the past three years and a Faisalabad-based businessman, Mohammad Kamran, is its chairman. He runs a number of schools and ‘businesses’ in Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore.
The chief organiser of the campaign, Ali Hashmi, claimed thousands of banners have been put up across Pakistan. Some of those involved in the exercise told media personnel that the goal of their campaign is to implore the army chief to impose martial law and install a government of technocrats with Gen Raheel Sharif at its head.
“There is no choice but to enforce martial law and to form a government of technocrats.”
“The absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the country for more than a month proves that there is no need of a political government,” they added.
