Fawad Chaudhry released from Adiala jail

RAWALPINDI: Former information minister Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry has been released from Adiala jail after an Islamabad court approved his bail in a sedition case, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

According to details, the former information minister was released from jail after an Islamabad court granted bail to him in a case registered for ‘threatening’ members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Speaking outside the Adiala jail, Fawad Chaudhry thanked the party leadership, especially Farrukh Habib, for supporting him ‘in hard times’.

He also praised the other parties’ leaders – Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar – for speaking in his favour.

Earlier in the day, the Islamabad court approved Fawad Chaudhry’s bail petition on the condition that he would not repeat any such words against a constitutional institution.

The judge granted bail to the PTI leader against surety bonds worth Rs20,000.

The case

The Islamabad police last week arrested former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry from his residence for ‘threatening’ Election Commission of Pakistan members.

A case against Chaudhary was registered at the Kohsar police station in Islamabad on the complaint of Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Omer Hamid Khan.

The PTI leader was booked under sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), Fawad Chaudhry in his speech outside Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore, Fawad warned the ECP, its members and their families.

The FIR stated that Chaudhary had said that the status of the election commission was reduced to that of a “Munshi [clerk]”.