Verdict reserved on acquittal of PTI leaders in PTV, parliament attack case

Counsel says prime accused Imran Khan was acquitted more than year-and-a-half ago

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday reserved its judgment on acquittal pleas filed by 11 PTI leaders accused in the 2014 PTV and parliament attack case.

Justice Muhammad Ali Waraich presided over the case earlier today, in which federal ministers Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood, Pervez Khattak and PTI senator Ejaz Chaudhry, among others, appeared before the court.

During the hearing, the defendants’ lawyer filed the acquittal pleas and stated that the police had withdrawn charges against PML-N supreme leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif in the case.

Upon inquiry, the lawyer informed the court that the pleas submitted contained a copy of the case as well as the withdrawal order.

Read: PTV attack case : Non-bailable warrants issued for 17 suspects

"More than a year-and-a-half has passed since the court passed an acquittal order for prime accused Imran Khan, while the co-accused are still on bail," the lawyer maintained, adding that they should also be acquitted.

In her reply, public prosecutor Fakhra Sultan said that the prosecution had no objection in acquitting the accused.

Following this, the ATC reserved its judgment on the acquittal petitions.

On August 31, 2014, in an attempt to topple the then PML-N government, the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers had marched towards the Prime Minister’s House and the police were ordered to thwart their march.

Subsequent clashes between the protesters and law enforcers resulted in the deaths of three PAT workers. Hundreds others, including both demonstrators and policemen, were wounded.

Read: Leaked conversation: 'Good, govt deserves it,' Imran allegedly told Alvi after PTV attack

Hundreds of protesters, allegedly belonging to the PTI and PAT, had briefly seized and shut down the state broadcaster on September 1, 2014, at a time when the country was in the grip of an intense political crisis spearheaded by Imran, PAT's leader Tahir-ul-Qadri and others.

The protesters had stormed the PTV headquarters on the Constitution Avenue and transmission of the PTV News and PTV World was cut off for almost half-an-hour. Later, army troops had cleared the buildings and transmission was restored.

The FIR was registered on a complaint by Secretariat SHO Inspector Mehboob Ahmed. In his application, the complainant said that the protesters attacked the government building after snatching weapons from policemen.