The post-arrest bail petition of student Alamgir Wazir was dismissed by the Lahore High Court on Thursday in a sedition case. It is worth mentioning here that student is nephew of MNA and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader Ali Wazir.
Alamagir was facing charges of sedition and case was registered against him and other participants of “Student Solidarity March” under section 124-A of Pakistan Penal Code. Before the judge announced the verdict, a deputy prosecutor general presented forensic report of the alleged objectionable speech by the petitioner saying the voice matching had been done.
Petitioner’s counsel Asad Jamal, however, argued that the petitioner had not denied the speech but the question involved in the case was whether the content of the speech fell within the definition of sedition. And this question was to be decided at trial not at the bail stage, he added.
Justice Asjad Javed Ghural, however, dismissed the bail petition for which a detailed order will be released soon.
Commenting on the dismissal verdict, Advocate Jamal said in a series out tweets, “It is deplorable that a colonial law which was meant to curb dissent and freedom of speech and to put freedom fighters behind bars remains on the statute books, and our state continues to apply it in a regressive and anti-democratic manner and contrary to the progressive view of article 19 of the Constitution.”
He further said that Alamgir’s continued incarceration was against the law and how it had been interpreted in various judgments of superior courts including LHC such as Tehmina Daultana vs State (division bench) (2001), Javed Hashmi vs. State (single bench) (2010) and Inamullah Khan vs State (division bench) (1977) and several other similar cases involving the offense of sedition.
He said the verdict will be challenged in the Supreme Court as he hoped justice will be delivered even though it had already been delayed.
