Days after police in Balochistan booked Shahbaz Gill for using blue language while criticizing the former army chief, retired Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, and his institution for striping him and a senator naked in custody, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader was summoned to the southwestern province to defend himself against the charges.
Incidentally, the former chief of staff to party chairman Imran Khan is currently out on bail in a similar case which accuses him of inciting the public against the military — after he apparently implied that servicemen should refuse to obey “illegal orders” from the military leadership.
The latest case against him was registered on Saturday in the Qilla Abdullah district of Balochistan after he lambasted the then-outgoing military chief and an intelligence official under him while addressing a public rally in Rawalpindi last month.
Reportedly, Gill was booked under sections of the notorious Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 law introduced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during its previous tenure between 2013 and 2018.
According to the police, Gill has “agreed” to cooperate with law enforcement.
Meanwhile, police said, if Gill didn’t turn up in Quetta on Monday, it reserve the right to arrest him from his residence in Islamabad.