The Lahore High Court (LHC) has reserved its judgement on the bail pleas of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Pir Afzal Qadri over the treasonous remarks made during their protest in Lahore in the aftermath of Aasia Bibi’s acquittal by the Supreme Court (SC).
A two-member bench headed by Justice Qasim Ali Khan heard the arguments of both sides on Wednesday and reserved the verdict.
On Tuesday, LHC directed Qadri’s lawyer to submit a detailed apology. The firebrand cleric was booked under sedition and terrorism charges in Gujrat and taken into “protective custody” by the State during a crackdown in November 2018 after the TLP announced it would observe martyrs’ day on Nov 25, 2018.
During the hearing of a bail plea filed by Qadri and TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi — whose earlier applications were rejected by an anti-terrorism court — Justice Qasim Ali Khan directed Qadri’s counsel Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry to submit the attested apology letter by Wednesday. The court rejected the counsel’s plea to not highlight the apology letter and directed the counsel to read it out in the court.
“He [Qadri] should have thought about it when he was using the mic,” Justice Khan added.
Chaudhry then read out the apology, after which the court directed him to define the “harsh words” used in the apology letter. The counsel said that according to the record, Qadri had said that the three judges [who acquitted Aasia Bibi] were liable to be killed, that Prime Minister Imran Khan is a Zionist agent and that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Javed Qamar Bajwa’s orders be not accepted.
Justice Khan observed that the comments were an incitement to violence. “Saying such things about army generals — what is it if not treason?” the judge asked.
Chaudhry reiterated that Qadri had apologised in his letter, but Justice Asjad Javed Ghural pointed out that “he had declared that the judges of the higher judiciary deserve to be killed”.
“Pir Afzal Qadri should have sought apology over the labels uttered against judges and generals,” added Justice Khan.
The court directed the counsel to contact his client over the telephone for fresh instructions about a more detailed apology. The counsel did so and told the court that Qadri will file a more detailed apology letter on Wednesday.
On April 30, a video message and statement of Qadri were released in which the one firebrand patron-in-chief of the TLP announced his retirement from the movement and issued an apology for incendiary remarks made by him during a protest against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi.
In the video message, Qadri read out a statement announcing his retirement. An accompanying press release stated that the TLP patron-in-chief is sorry for “hurting the sentiments of the government, the judiciary and the chief of army staff”.
“I am a patient of heart disease, paralysis, kidney disease, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure etc, and when the verdict of the Asia Masih case was pronounced, my religious sentiments got hurt and I delivered a speech. I am very sorry for hurting the sentiments of the government, the judiciary and the chief of army staff,” he had said.