Request for further police custody of Gill lands in High Court

Investigators insist they need more time to secure key evidence from the accused in a case of incitement of mutiny in the armed forces.

By Naveed Naqvi

ISLAMABAD: Advocate General Islamabad Jahangir Khan Jadoon Saturday challenged a local magistrate’s verdict the previous day to deny a police request for further investigative custody of Shahbaz Gill, the chief of staff of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The police say they need more time to secure evidence from Gill, a key aide of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman.

Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir Friday declined the request after Gill, who has been accused of incitement to mutiny in remarks aired by satellite broadcaster ARY News, claimed he had been tortured in custody to extract incriminating information.

The challenged the magistrate’s order on the same day in the Sessions court, but the challenge failed and Additional Sessions Judge Adnan Khan upheld the Magistrate’s ruling in the matter, ordering Gill to be handed over to judicial custody in jail.

The matter has now landed in the Islamabad High Court, where the AG is seeking annulment of the Magistrate’s ruling and the Session’s court decision to uphold it.

He is backing the police request for further custody of Gill to secure evidence in the case, in particular to gain access to Gill’s phone and laptop and to put him through a polygraph test to ascertain if he is telling the truth.

The satellite broadcaster that aired Gill’s offending remarks had been taken off air immediately afterwards on the instructions of Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). On Friday, the Interior Ministry revoked the channel’s security clearance – mandatory for any broadcaster to continue operating – citing adverse reports from security agencies.

The investigators claims Gill was reading his televised remarks from a written script prepared in advance with a deliberate intent to incite mutiny in the armed forces. They say they need to ascertain the identity of the person or persons who participated in the preparations of those remarks.

They also say need to put Gill through a polygraph test to ascertain if he is telling the truth or lying. Most importantly, they say they are yet to secure access to Gills cell phone and laptop, and the custody of his driver who may be in possession of incriminating evidence including a second cell phone and has since gone into hiding.

Based on these arguments, they say they need further physical remand of the accused to advance their investigation of the case.

Shahbaz Gill’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhary opposes these arguments. In particular, he says the police need not have the accused in custody to administer a polygraph test.

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