Alleged May 9 rioters get relief in Rawalpindi

Trial courts grant bail to 19 more accused in the wake of SC’s March 20 order

RAWALPINDI:

The PTI received further relief on Wednesday as trial courts in Rawalpindi granted bail to 19 more individuals who were arrested in the garrison city for allegedly vandalizing state and military properties following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, 2023.

The trial courts granted bail to these 19 individuals, who had been detained in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for around 10 months, upon submission of surety bonds of Rs. 50,000 each and ordered their immediate release.

Interestingly, all individuals booked in Rawalpindi after the May 9 incidents have now been released except for eight PTI workers who were tried under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.

These eight accused were tried by three different military courts in Rawalpindi, with the courts reserving their orders after concluding the trial. These orders are expected to be unveiled within a week.

The military courts also conducted trials of four other accused against whom cases were registered following the May 9, 2023 incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Abbottabad district.

After the May 9 incidents, authorities in Rawalpindi registered 14 different First Information Reports (FIRs) under which a total of 549 PTI leaders and workers, including former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, were arrested.

In these cases, 34 accused were later discharged. The cases involved allegations of attacks on the GHQ, Army Museum, and offices of sensitive institutions. Arrest warrants were issued for 31 central leaders of the PTI, with 27 of these leaders later declared proclaimed offenders.

The leaders declared proclaimed offenders include Zain Qureshi, Hammad Azhar, Lt Gen (Retd) Akram Sahi, Zulfi Bukhari, Murad Saeed, Usman Saif Basra, Usman Dar, and Zartaj Gul.

Arrest warrants were issued for the K-P Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, Murad Saeed, former MPA Raja Rashid Hafeez, Ijaz Khan Jazi, and former provincial law minister Raja Basharat.

Last week, on March 20, a five-member Supreme Court bench granted bail to five suspects involved in the May 9 incidents. All these accused were named in the FIRs registered in Rawalpindi.