In addition to facing a judicial remand for orchestrating a digital anti-state campaign, Raoof Hasan, the Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is also involved in a fresh terror case, further compounding the party’s massive legal problems.
Hasan was placed on physical remand for two days by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police on Tuesday, following his release from an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad.
The PTI media chief and other suspects were placed on a 14-day judicial remand by a district and sessions court in the federal capital after they were accused of manipulating an anti-state social media propaganda network.
Although the imprisoned PTI founder Imran Khan had triumphed in a number of legal proceedings brought against him, authorities last week nabbed Hasan during a search on his party’s secretariat.Media sources state that on July 22, a police detachment raided the party secretariat in Islamabad, where they arrested Hasan and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the acting head of the party, who was subsequently freed.
Ahmad Waqas Janjua, the party’s coordinator for foreign media coverage, was subsequently revealed to be one of the people seized.
The prosecution stated, “The PTI leader was arrested by the police in a new case by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).”
In its ruling, the ATC stated that the prosecution had asked the court for a five-day physical remand so that Hasan could be questioned in relation to the co-accused’s confession, which disclosed the existence of a network that incited terror.
