Pakistan court convicts Ex-General's son for asking Army chief Bajwa to resign

BBC Urdu Service reported quoting military sources that a field general court martial had been held against accused Hassan Askari, the son of retired major general Zafar Mehdi Askari, in Gujranwala cantonment, and during the trial Askari was not allowed to have his own counsel while the military court had provided him a lawyer support.

After being sentenced, Hassan Askari, has been shifted to Sahiwal High Security Prison in Pakistan's Punjab.

According to the BBC report, a military court had convicted Hassan Askari in July this year, but no statement was issued by the Pak army's public relation department, and the details were recently released by Askari's father, Maj Gen (Retd) Zafar Mehdi Askari, after he moved a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC)'s Rawalpindi bench seeking transfer of Aksari from Sahiwal jail to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi.

Hassan Askari, a computer engineer by profession, was accused of writing a letter to Pak army chief, General Bajwa, in September last year, allegedly criticising him, asking him to resign, and expressing displeasure with the army's policies.

Askari was charged under Section 131 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which falls into the category of inciting any army officer or personnel to mutiny, and it is also mentioned in the FIR registered in this regard that Hassan Askari in his letter also made illegal remarks against the top leadership of the army which shows that he belongs to "anti-national elements", according to a BBC Urdu Service report.