ATC issues arrest warrants for 17 accused in PTV attack case

In September 2014, hundreds of protesters stormed into the state broadcaster building in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) issued on Monday non-bailable warrants for 17 suspects who failed to appear before the court in cases pertaining to an attack on the Pakistan Television (PTV) building and Parliament House in September 2014.

ATC Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi issued warrants while ordering the police to arrest the accused and produce them before the court at the next hearing, which will take place on December 1.



Hundreds of protesters allegedly belonging to the PTI and PAT had briefly seized the state broadcaster on September 1, 2014 at a time when the country was under intense political crisis spearheaded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri and others.

Protesters stormed into the state broadcaster causing transmission of PTV news channel and PTV World to be cut off for a short period of time. The buildings were later cleared by the Pakistan Army.

An FIR was registered followed by a complaint by Secretariat Police Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Mehboob Ahmed, who in his application, said that "protesters attacked the government building after snatching weapons from police officials."

Further, the ATC had earlier issued non-bailable arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and several others in response to two separate FIRs registered by the secretariat police for attacking the state buildings.



On August 31, 2014, in an attempt to topple the PML-N government, PTI and PAT workers marched towards the Prime Minister House, prompting the deployment of police officials. This resulted in clashes between the protesters and law enforcers and caused the death of three PAT workers. Hundreds others, including both demonstrators and policemen, were wounded.

Over a hundred workers and supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were booked and later released on bail in cases pertaining to the attack.



Meanwhile, court sources revealed that a charge sheet for one of the cases has yet to be submitted despite a one-year lapse. "While only 86 out of 103 accused appeared before the court, the state counsel once again failed to appear," the source added.