Court defers former Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry's indictment in sedition case

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 24 : A district and session court in Islamabad on Saturday deferred the indictment of former Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry in the sedition case, Pakistan-based ARY News reported. The judge accepted Fawad Chaudhry's exemption plea and directed him to appear before the court on July 4 for indictment.

The court's decision comes after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's former aide Fawad Chaudhry skipped the proceedings. Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra resumed hearing on Saturday.

During the hearing, Fawad Chaudhry's lawyer said that his client could not appear before the court due to illness and sought an exemption from today's hearing. After listening to Fawad Chaudhry's lawyers, the judge asked whether the former minister had been hit by heatstroke.

Earlier in January, Islamabad police had arrested Fawad Chaudhry from his house for "threatening" members of the Election Commission of Pakistan. A case has been lodged against Fawad Chaudhry at the Kohsar police station in Islamabad.

The case was registered after the complaint of Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Omer Hamid Khan. Former minister Fawad Chaudhry was booked under sections 153-A, 506, 505 and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Earlier in May, Fawad Chaudhry said the people of Pakistan could not be left at the mercy of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, ARY News reported.

Chaudhry while addressing a joint press conference alongside Imran Ismail and Mahmood Moulvi, who also parted ways with PTI recently, said that "All of us have condemned the events of May 9" and the responsible should be punished as per law.

Holding the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led (PDM) government responsible for political and economic uncertainty in Pakistan, Fawad Chaudhry said that the 250 million population of Pakistan could not be left to Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, according to ARY News.

"Given Pakistan's situation, it will not be possible at any cost that the position of opposition is left vacant and the PDM was given an open field to play," Chaudhry added.