Alvi refuses to avail immunity in parliament attack case

President appears before ATC, urges he should be treated as ‘ordinary citizen’

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday refused to avail immunity in a case pertaining to the attack on the Pakistan Television (PTV) and the Parliament House during a sit-in by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2014 as he appeared before an anti-terrorism court.

Alvi along with other PTI leaders was nominated in the case under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 during the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). At the onset of the hearing, the president, represented by his counsel Babar Awan, urged the court to treat him as an “ordinary citizen”, saying that he did not want to avail the presidential immunity granted to him under Article 248 of the Constitution.

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

He informed the judge that he could avail the presidential immunity but he would not do so as he believed “there should not be any inequality”. “I appeared in court so that no one could say I skipped court proceedings,” he said, alluding to the verdict that would be announced on March 9.

The president said that a case against him was registered in Sialkot after he became the president. “I did not seek immunity and contested the case that resulted in my acquittal,” he added. Alvi remarked that justice would continue to be delayed until everyone was deemed equal in the eyes of the law. He also urged the judiciary to adjudicate cases at the earliest in order to provide justice to the people of Pakistan, otherwise generations would keep contesting those cases.

“My father filed a case in 1977 but the decision on his appeal is still pending,” he added.
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 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 of others, including both demonstrators and policemen, were wounded.

Read More: Leaked conversation: 'Good, govt deserves it,' Imran allegedly told Alvi after PTV attack\PTI Chairman Imran Khan, PAT leader Tahirul Qadri and others along with hundreds of protesters had briefly seized and shut down the state broadcaster on September 1, 2014. The protesters had stormed the PTV headquarters on Constitution Avenue and transmission of the PTV News and PTV World was cut off for almost 30 minutes. 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.