Aleema and Uzma Khan granted attendance relief in Jinnah House attack case

ATC also approved interim bails for Zain Qureshi, Salman Akram Raja, and others.

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An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore has approved an attendance exemption for Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan in the ongoing Jinnah House attack case.

The court also extended interim bails for other prominent figures involved in cases related to the May 9 protests, Express News reported.

Aleema and Uzma Khan, sisters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, were granted a one-day attendance exemption.

Their lawyers cited blocked routes and confirmed the sisters were currently in Islamabad, requesting a temporary exemption from court attendance.

Lawyers for Zain Qureshi, Salman Akram Raja, Chaudhry Bilal Ejaz, and Muhammad Ahmad Chattha also submitted similar attendance exemption requests, which were accepted by the court.

Admin Judge Manzar Ali Gul of the Anti-Terrorism Court accepted all exemption requests and adjourned the hearing until 7 December.

Last month, an ATC in Islamabad granted bail to Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan.

Judge Abul Hasanat Zulqarnain approved the bail requests against surety bonds of Rs20,000 each.

Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan were arrested on October 4 in a case registered at Kohsar Police Station.

The sisters were detained in the context of PTI protests.

Islamabad police arrested Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan from D-Chowk. The two were taken into custody and transferred to the Secretariat police station, as confirmed by Express News.

Their arrest followed a PTI announcement of a planned protest at D-Chowk. Supporters of the party began arriving in the area, with Aleema and Uzma also joining the demonstration before being detained by police.

Consequenlty, an anti-terrorism court remanded Imran Khan's sisters into police custody for further physical remand after one day physical remand following their arrest.

Aleema and Uzma were presented in court after completing their one-day physical remand. The court, presided over by Judge Tahir Abbas Supra, was hearing the case registered at Kohsar Police Station under terrorism charges.

During the proceedings, the judge ordered all unrelated persons to leave the courtroom before PTI’s lawyer, Niazullah Niazi, began his arguments.

Niazi informed the court that they were provided with a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) via WhatsApp just the day before. He argued that the arrest of Aleema and Uzma on October 4 was unlawful, as they were not presented in court until October 6. "This arrest has become illegal," he stated.