ISLAMABAD, Sep 21(ABC): A court in Islamabad on Wednesday approved a request by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill seeking exemption from appearance during today’s hearing of the sedition case registered against him.
Judicial Magistrate Shoaib Akhtar presided over the hearing during which the police submitted a challan.
The next hearing of the case will be held on September 24.
The former aide to ousted premier Imran Khan was arrested on August 9 after he had called for ‘mutiny’ within the army and called on the officers to defy certain orders from the top command during an appearance on a private TV channel.
Illegal weapons case
Another magistrate heard the illegal arms case against the former premier’s chief of staff.
The police, unable to submit the challan in the case, was ordered to do so during the next hearing, which was adjourned till September 29.
A case of possession of illegal arms was registered against Gill at the Secretariat police station last month. The Islamabad police had raided Gill’s room in Parliament Lodges, where weapons, mobile and satellite phones were recovered.
The PTI leader, who was previously arrested in the sedition case, had claimed that the weapon was licensed and owned by his driver. The police asked him to produce the licence but Gill could not produce it despite a passage of several hours.