Army gets custody of 8 alleged rioters

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday handed over eight people – accused of attacking the General Headquarters (GHQ) on May 9 – to military authorities for their trial under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

Rawalpindi ATC-1 Judge Hamid Hussain handed the accused over to the army on the requests of Commanding Officer Yasir Nawaz Cheema and Commanding Officer Farhan Nazir Qureshi.

The accused handed over to Commanding Officer Cheema for trial by military courts are Muhammad Idrees son of Muhammad Shafi; Umar Farooq son of Muhammad Sabir; Raja M Ahsan son of Muhammad Maqsood and Muhammad Abdullah son of Kanwar Ashraf Khan.

The accused were booked under sections 3, 7 and 9 of the Official Secret Act, 1923 read with section 2 (1) (d) of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 in a first information report (FIR) registered at Rawalpindi’s RA Bazar Police Station.

The accused handed over to Commanding Officer Qureshi are Ali Hassan son of Khalilur Rehman; Lal Shah son of Jahanzaib; Sheheryar Zulfiqar son of Zulfiqar Ahmed and Farhad Khan son of Shahid Khan.

These people were booked in a first information report (FIR) registered at Rawalpindi’s Civil Lines Police Station under the same charges, which “are exclusively triable” by the military courts.

According to the short order issued by the court, the deputy prosecutor general (DPG) also did not raise any objection to the requests and forwarded them to the court for appropriate orders.

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“Therefore, while accepting the request of the commanding officer[s] under section 549(3) of the CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure] read with Rule 7(1) of Criminal Procedure (Military Offenders) Rules. 1970, Superintendent Jail Adiala is directed to hand over the custody of the… accused to the [officers],” it said.

Violent protests broke out across the country after paramilitary rangers arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan from the Islamabad High Court premises on May 9.

During these protests, alleged supporters of the PTI vandalized and torched dozens of state and military installations and memorials while also attacking Gate No 1 of the GHQ in Rawalpindi and Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore.

While launching a massive crackdown against the rioters, the country’s civil and military leaders on May 17 endorsed a decision made a day earlier during a meeting of corps commanders to invoke the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and the Official Secrets Act, 1923 against the people involved in the attack.

As part of the crackdown, Rawalpindi Police arrested 532 people in the garrison city, 374 of whom were booked under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The authorities have also sent names of over 200 people to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in order to impose travel restrictions on them.