May 9 case adjourned without proceedings

Police dispersed a large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers, who had gathered outside the Adiala Jail on the occasion of a hearing of the 12 cases related to the violence on May 9, 2023, against party founder Imran Khan and others.

The hearing of the case was adjourned until March 13 without any proceedings, as Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Malik Ijaz Asif was on leave. The court staff marked the presence of the accused, Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, inside the jail.

The presence of 498 other accused, who were on bail, was marked at the gate of the Adiala Jail, where a large number of PTI workers had gathered. On the occasion, they raised slogans, but the police dispersed them in a peaceful manner.

Those who came to the Adiala Jail for the hearing included Sadaqat Abbasi, a former PTI member of the National Assembly; Umar Tanveer Butt, a former member of the provincial assembly; Seemabya Tahir, and others.

Separately, a civil court in Islamabad summoned the PTI founder in a case about intimidating a female judge. During the hearing, civil judge Mureed Abbas accepted a petition for the issuance of Imran’s production order for the court appearance and adjourned the hearing until April 3.

Meanwhile, Qureshi filed an appeal in the Islamabad High Court for the suspension of his sentence in the cipher case. He said in the petition that “conspiracy or treason” could not be proved and that it was not his responsibility to protect the cipher, which went missing from the Prime Minister’s Office.