PTI men convicted in more May 9 cases

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Faisalabad on Monday sentenced 59 people—including PTI leaders Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz and Zartaj Gul—to 10 years in prison in another May 9 case.

Out of 109 accused, ATC Judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh also sentenced 16 accused to 3-year imprisonment for attacking the residence of PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah, who also belongs to Faisalabad.

Judge Sheikh also ordered confiscation of the properties of 42 PTI supporters and workers.

The court, however, acquitted 34 accused including former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and PTI MNA Zain Qureshi after prosecution failed to establish their involvement in aforesaid charges.

The case was part of a series of trials relating to the violent protests that erupted after the first arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises on May 9, 2023.

Earlier, on July 31, an ATC in Faisalabad sentenced top PTI leaders including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul, MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza and former MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafiq to ten years in prison in another May 9 case.

In his verdict issued on Monday, the ATC judge observed that a culture of nihilism was intentionally promoted with "solipsistic approach" and the workers were made to believe that they alone are laudable and all others are condemnable.

"Other than them, no one else politically and ethically has any valid cause and other political factions do not even exist, as they are, the single reality with a claim of self-righteousness," he stated,

He stated that with such kind of political training, anything destructive could be achieved like fateful May 9 happenings, which, he said, were violating all established political norms, universally accepted, by all civilized nations of the world.

"This is no case of an FIR of single occurrence, but it is the case of a conspiracy to create violent events throughout the country in event of arrest of chairman of PTI Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi and it is quite possible that one conspiracy of such magnitude may lead to numerous occurrences, when planned and organized by a political party having huge membership of its followers."

Earlier, the defense counsels had argued that only three witnesses of the alleged conspiracy hatched at Rose Hotel at the Chakri area of Rawalpindi and Imran Khan's Zaman Park residence.

They said the participation of the witnesses—Asmat Kamal, Hassam Afzal and Muhamad Khalid, all policemen—in two alleged meetings was highly doubtful by their own disclosures.

They said witness Asmat Kamal admitted that the local leadership was known to him prior to the alleged meeting at Rose Hotel for his longer period of service at Rawalpindi.

Moreover, he was unable to produce any report of his arrival and departure at Chakri Police Station.

Similarly, the witnesses of the meeting at Zaman Park admitted that premises of Imran's residence were guarded by heavy police deployment from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and there were so many checkpoints where the identity of every participant was being scrutinized carefully.

Therefore, their presence at the alleged venue of the meeting was not established at all.

They argued that the prosecution witnesses were at variance on so many points regarding participation of accused persons in alleged occurrence and role of accused persons.

On Monday, Judge Sheikh also issued non-bailable warrants of arrest for 75 convicts including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul and others due to their absence in the courtroom.

He directed the Faisalabad CPO to present them before the court so that they could be sent to jail to undergo their sentences pronounced on August 25.

According to judgments announced by various ATCs in May 9 cases, entire properties have been confiscated of over 160 convicts including former Punjab governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry and Mehmoodur Rasheed.

The properties have been forfeited under Section 7(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

On May 9, 2023, PTI lawmakers and supporters attacked military installations across Pakistan in the wake of Imran's arrest by paramilitary Rangers.

Later, the government launched a heavy-handed crackdown against the former ruling party while registering FIRs against thousands of people including PTI founder Imran Khan.

Over 100 PTI workers and supporters were also handed over to military authorities for their trial in military courts.