Federal cabinet divided over Sharif case: sources

The federal cabinet is divided over the issue of an FIR registered against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif blaming him for criminal conspiracy over his recent “provocative speeches” that were made from London.
According to sources, during a meeting of the federal cabinet, two federal ministers and a special assistant suggested that the FIR registered against Sharif “should reach its logical conclusion”.
However, Prime Minister Imran Khan and other members of the cabinet consistently held that the government was not in favour of exacting political revenge from the opposition.
“The government is not involved with this FIR,” Khan was quoted as saying during the meeting.
The other ministers, according to sources, were of the opinion that the FIR against Sharif should be dismissed.
The FIR registered against Sharif on October 1 was lodged by a citizen in the Shahdra Police Station’s jurisdiction. The case was registered under the provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code for criminal conspiracy against the PML-N chief and other leaders.
The divide comes a day after Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said the prime minister was unaware of the case and had expressed “extreme displeasure” over it.
 “Prime Minister Imran Khan was unaware of any such [first information report] FIR when I informed him about it, he expressed extreme displeasure,” Fawad Chaudhry said in response to journalist Hamid Mir who had shared the copy of FIR.
 “Filing treason cases is not our [PTI government’s] policy. These were the tactics [used during] Nawaz Sharif’s tenure,” he said.
Meanwhile, responding to the case, Information Minister Shibli Faraz distanced his government from it, saying that someone related to the opposition may have done it.
“This FIR can be done by anyone. You can do it against me. I will say that someone from within [the opposition] may have done it,” Faraz told the media in a press conference after the federal cabinet’s meeting.
The minister further said the PM and his government should not be involved in the matter.
 “Punjab government will find out who did this and investigate it. This has nothing to do with us [federal government],” said Faraz.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Mohamed Zubair has said no-one from the government is ready to take ownership of the treason case against party founder Nawaz Sharif and others.
Addressing a press briefing in Lahore yesterday, he said that those who registered the case against the PML-N leaders are the workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He added, “The surprising fact is that three top army generals and two former prime ministers have been nominated in the case.”
Zubair maintained that government representatives accuse the PML-N of speaking against the institutions but in fact, they are the ones who are maligning the image of these institutions.
The former Punjab governor highlighted, “Imran Khan thought he could scare us by registering the case but he is wrong. We will continue to fight for our rights.”
On October 6, a case was registered against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and other party leaders at Shahdara police station in Lahore for ‘conspiring’ against the country and state institutions.
The case was registered by a citizen, Badar Rasheed, under Section 10 (cyberterrorism) of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (2016), and sections 120-A (definition of criminal conspiracy), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against Pakistan), 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolishment of its sovereignty), 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Pakistan Penal Code.