By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday granted police one-day physical remand of Siddique Jan, a journalist affiliated with Bol News, who was apprehended last night in connection with the violence and rioting that erupted outside the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) when former premier Imran Khan attended a hear-ing related to the Toshakhana case. Hours-long clashes were reported between PTI workers and the capital police on Saturday after the former prime minister arrived at the FJC to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case.
Jan, the Islamabad bureau chief of Bol News television channel, was picked up from his office by the police yesterday and taken away in a private vehicle to an undisclosed location.
A police officer told Dawn yesterday that a case was likely to be registered against him upon the instructions of a senior officer. Jan’s arrest comes after a video was shared on social media purportedly from the same day clashes took place at the FJC.
Islamabad police said on Tuesday that Jan had been arrested in connection with a case filed at the CTD Police Station regarding the FJC “arson and siege”. “Siddique Jan will be presented in court in time,” the ICT said in a tweet, with-out specifying the timeframe.
ATC hearing
Later in the day, police presented Jan in an Islamabad ATC where Judge Jawad Abbas presided over the hearing. At the outset of today’s proceedings, the in-vestigating officer (IO) requested the court to grant police 10-day physical re-mand of Jan.
“There is a video where he can be seen stopping a policeman,” the IO said, add-ing that officials also had to conduct “a photo grammatic test and recover shells”.
He also read out the first information report (FIR) registered against Jan.
Judge Abbas asked on what basis police were requesting 10-day remand of the journalist. At this, the prosecutor said Jan stopped police personnel from car-rying out their official duty.
“The police officer in the video is an employee of the Islamabad police,” the IO said. “Jan stopped the police from firing a (teargas) shell”.
Presenting his arguments, Jan’s lawyer Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq said the charges were bailable. “My client’s case doesn’t merit Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” he contended.
Ashfaq said his client’s name was not mentioned anywhere in the FIR. “He (Jan) was 50m away from the judicial complex at a plaza,” the lawyer said. “If what can be seen in the video is a crime, it’s a moment of shame for the state”.
Advocate Ashfaq told the court that in the video circulating on social media, Jan can be heard telling officials to refrain from firing tear gas shells.
The government lawyer requested time from the court because Jan had to be taken to Lahore for a forensic test.
“You have one hour. Complete it,” Judge Abbas replied.
The government lawyer pleaded that more time was required as officials had to go to Lahore. At this, the judge questioned why Jan had to be taken to Lahore when he was accepting everything that happened in the video circulating on social media.
The lawyer replied by saying that officials had to carry out voice matching.
At this, Jan’s lawyer interjected and said his client had “confessed the truth”. “There is nothing more to it,” he said.
“The case they have made out of a video is not admissible,” Advocate Ashfaq said. “Watch the video once and tell me if a crime was committed”.
The court asked if the video was complete to which Ashfaq replied in the af-firmative, adding that the case was built on political motives.
After hearing arguments of both the sides, the court granted police one-day physical remand of the journalist.
