ISLAMABAD:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the garrison city on Thursday indicted another group of 14 PTI leaders including Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a case related to alleged attack by PTI works on the GHQ on May 9, 2023.
The ATC presided over by Judge Syed Amjad Ali Shah conducted a hearing of the case in a courtroom inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where PTI founder Imran Khan is also detained.
Authorities registered a case under terrorism charges against PTI leaders and workers at Police Station RA Bazaar in the wake of the acts of vandalism carried out by alleged PTI workers following Imran Khan’s arrest from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC) in connection with a corruption case last year.
On Thursday, the ATC indicted 14 more accused in the May 9 GHQ attack case.
The charges were framed against Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Gandapur, Shibli Faraz, Shehryar Afridi, Kanwal Shauzab, Shabbir Awan, Latasab Satti, Umar Tanveer Butt, Taimur Masood, Saad Ali Khan, Sikandar Zaib, Zohaib Afridi, Fahad Masood, and Raja Nasser Mahfuz. All the accused pleaded not guilty.
The court canceled the arrest warrants of CM Gandapur upon his appearance. So far, a total of 113 individuals, including Imran, Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz have been indicted in the case.
During the hearing, Imran’s petition citing insufficient evidence for the indictment was preliminarily heard, and further proceedings on this will take place today. Ali Amin Gandapur appointed Ghulam Hasnain Sanbal Advocate as his pleader for 12 related cases.
In the GHQ attack case, 21 accused submitted miscellaneous applications, including requests for permission to perform Umrah by four individuals: Muhammad Javed, Muhammad Ahmed Chattha, Rai Hassan Nawaz, and Umar Naveed Satti.
Separate petitions were also filed by the PTI founder and Fawad Chaudhry to obtain CCTV footage from the day of their indictment that took place last week.
Under Section 265-D, 15 accused, including Qureshi, Gandapur, Kanwal Shauzab, Fawad Chaudhry, Shehryar Afridi, Nasser Mahfuz, Umar Butt, Saad Ali Khan, Ansar Iqbal, Sikandar Zaib, and Shibli Faraz, challenged the indictment citing insufficient evidence.
Special Prosecutor Zaheer Shah presented arguments against the petitions, while defense counsels Faisal Chaudhry and Faisal Malik argued in favor of the accused. The court will resume hearing these applications today (Friday).
