Imaan Mazari denies allegations of encouraging mutiny

• Imaan denies all allegations in FIR registered against her.
• Lawyer says she was worried about her mother.
• Attempts being made to stop me from activism, she adds.

ISLAMABAD: Advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir Wednesday denied allegations levelled against her of encouraging soldiers of the Pakistani Army to launch a mutiny against the force's senior leadership.

Mazari — the daughter of former human rights minister Shireen Mazari — made the statement in a written response to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which has granted the advocate a pre-arrest bail in a case lodged against her at Islamabad's Ramna Police Station under PPC Sections 138 (Abetment of act of insubordination by soldier) and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief).

The lawyer had issued remarks regarding the institution earlier this month when her mother was detained by Punjab’s anti-corruption department in a case related to the encroachment of a piece of land in District Rajanpur.

In the FIR registered against Imaan, the complainant said: "The above-named lady abused the senior military leadership of the Pakistan Army. Her derogatory statements are highly disparaging."

"Such statements, made with the intent to cause and create unrest and Chaos in the Pakistan Army which is also leading to the punishable offence," the FIR read.

But in her response to the IHC, the lawyer rejected all the claims made in the FIR saying that attempts were being made to stop her from her activism.

"All allegations levelled in the instant FIR are denied as being made with mala fide and ulterior motives, constituting an attempt to deter my public participation through legal work and activism [...] the FIR is baseless and an abuse of legal process," the lawyer said in the written response.

Imaan informed the court that when her mother was subjected to an "unlawful arrest", she approached the relevant police station to inquire about her whereabouts.

However, Imaan noted that she was repeatedly informed by the relevant police officials that her mother was not in their custody and they were not aware of her whereabouts.

"In view of the statements of relevant police officials and the information shared by my mother before her disappearance. Any statement made by myself on the day of my mother's unlawful arrest voicing my reasonable suspicion cannot be categorized as an attempt to “aiding/abetting an act of insubordination by officers/soldiers of Pakistan Army.”

"At no point in any statement, did I encourage soldiers in the Pakistan Army to mutiny against the senior leadership of the Armed Forces, nor did I provide any means of assistance for them to do so," Imaan said.

She added that in any event, the content of the FIR reveals no intent to commit the said offence, nor does it cite any statements made by her that incite officers/soldiers of the Pakistan Army to commit insubordination.

"It is ludicrous to allege that at the time of my mother’s disappearance I intended to cause mutiny, my only concern at the time was to ensure my mother’s safe return and to ensure that a lawful and efficient inquiry is conducted in the matter of her illegal and suspicious arrest," she said.

"It was and is my right to name the suspects based on the information I had. My only intent at the time was to ensure that individuals who I reasonably believed to be behind her illegal arrest are investigated."