Advocate Tariq Asad, In his petition said that Geo was being targeted by other channels so that the channel’s reputation will go down. Other channels had also committed the same act but no one was even talking about what these channels had done. He requested that action should be taken against those channels too. Advocate Tariq also said that He further said that anchor Mubashir Lucman was engaged in a character assassination campaign against former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (r) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
According to the petition Qawwal Amjad Sabri and poet Aqeel Mohsin Naqvi were also to be held responsible for singing and writing the manqabat. The petition also said that the manqabat should be banned because it was controversial.
The case was registered under PPC’s sections 295-A [deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs], 295-C [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Prophet (PBUH) ] and 298-A [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of holy personages]. The suspects were also booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act [punishment for terrorist act].
As a result of the petition, the court issued notices to Federal Information Secretary, chief executive of ARY, anchors Mubashir Lucman, Nida Yasir and Shaista Lodhi, Amjad Sabri Qawwal, poet Aqeel Mohsin Naqvi, chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and Chairman Cable Operators Association of Pakistan.
