Shoe hurled at Sharif: Accused, accomplices sent on 14-day judicial remand

LAHORE: A local court here on Monday sent the main accused, who hurled shoe at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, along with his two accomplices to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

Prime accused Munawar Hussain and his friends Muhammad Sajid and Abdul Ghafoor were produced before a local magistrate by police.

The magistrate sent the accused to judicial custody after police said the culprits were not required for custodial interrogation. The officials said the accused could be seen hurling a shoe and chanting slogans in video footage of the incident.

Earlier today, the police had lodged the first information report (FIR) against them.

The case against three was lodged under Section 16 (Dissemination of rumours) of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and Section 355 (Assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person, otherwise than on grave provocation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The incident of shoe-hurling took place on Sunday during an event at Jamia Naeemia seminary. Almost all the mainstream political parties and their leaders, including Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and former president Asif Zardari, on Sunday condemned the attack on former premier Nawaz Sharif.

The shoe-thrower approached the stage and hurled the shoe at Sharif, which hit him on his chest, when he took over the dais to deliver a speech.

Sharif, however, delivered a brief speech before leaving the venue.

The former premier said there was a dire need for cooperation among political, social and religious circles to make Pakistan a better place to live.

On the occasion, he called for collective efforts to achieve the destination of progress and prosperity of country.

According to police officials, the attacker was beaten up by a group of students and seminary staff after the incident and shifted to hospital for medical assistance. They identified him as Talha Munawar, a former student of the seminary.

It was the second attack on the ruling PML-N leaders within two days as previously black ink was thrown at Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday, while he was addressing the party workers’ convention in Sialkot city of Punjab province.

Khawaja Asif, however, continued his speech and said that such “tactics” can’t harm his political career.

PML-N workers grabbed the man and handed him over to police.