Pakistan files sedition case against Shandana Gulzar: Who is the ex-lawmaker from Imran Khan’s party, and what has she said?

“Why the terrorists of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were sent to KP for fuelling terrorism but other cities are safe from destruction?” she was quoted by the complainant as saying on a TV show, The Nation reported. A case was registered under sections 153A (promotion of enmity between groups), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 124A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of a Magistrate.

Gulzar is the latest among a few other PTI leaders who have been arrested lately. In January, senior leader Fawad Chaudhry was arrested from Lahore on sedition charges for allegedly “inciting violence” against the Election Commission of Pakistan, though he was later released on bail, reported The Express Tribune. Former federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur and PTI’s Shahbaz Gill have also had similar charges levelled.

Who is Shandana Gulzar?

Gulzar was elected from a reserved women’s seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and took oath in the National Assembly in 2018. She has previously worked as a Parliamentary Secretary in the Pakistan government and holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge.

In April 2022, along with 130 other members of her party, she resigned from the Parliament minutes before Shehbaz Sharif was chosen to replace Khan as the Prime Minister, to protest against what they claimed was the “imported government”. However, the Speaker refused to accept these en masse resignations and said they would be verified individually, finally accepting only 11 of these, including Gulzar Khan’s, around three months after they were put forth.

Then in January 2023, a few more of the resignations were accepted. But, the resignations of 51 more PTI lawmakers were pending. Then on January 24, 45 PTI lawmakers withdrew their resignations. PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry said this was to take back the posts of the leader of the opposition and parliamentary party leader, reported Dawn.

What is PTI aiming for now?

The PTI has been claiming that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government is targeting the KPK region – where Imran Khan’s party was in the majority in the provincial assembly until its dissolution by Khan on January 18. The provincial assembly in Punjab was also dissolved on his orders, and these point to a bid for demanding early national elections. This has been a central demand by Khan’s supporters since he was removed as Prime Minister in April 2022.

Pakistan’s Constitution mentions that once the provincial assembly is dissolved, elections must be held “within a period of ninety days after the dissolution, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days after the conclusion of the polls.” Though there is no link given in the constitution between provincial and national polls, in practice, they have been held together.

Like Gulzar, many in PTI are suggesting that the ruling government is targeting KPK, although similar attacks have happened elsewhere in the country. Dawn cited a report from the Islamabad based-Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) that termed 2022 as a particularly bad year, with KPK and Balochistan seeing increasing violence. In both regions, it said the violence was a result of help from TTP operatives in Eastern Afghanistan, which borders KPK.

Currently, KPK has a parallel government being run by the TTP, similar to how it controlled the region around 2008. The TTP’s resurgence is partly thanks to the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021. While Imran Khan was once soft on the group, TTP is now demanding federally-administered tribal areas, which would mean their own enclaves, and allowing the movement of TTP members and fighters from Afghanistan into the country, threatening more violence in the future.