Soldiers stand guard outside the headquarters of state-owned Pakistani Television (PTV) after the building was stormed by protesters during anti-government protests in Islamabad on September 1, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
ATC Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi issued warrants with directions to the police to arrest the suspects and produce them before court on the next hearing. 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 the two cases.
On Monday, 86 out of 103 suspects appeared while 17 others failed to show up before the court. All of them were arrested during the sit-ins.
The same court had earlier issued non-bailable arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan, vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and others for attacking state buildings.
The warrants were issued in response to two separate FIRs registered by the Secretariat police against Khan, Qadri, Qureshi, Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rasheed, Saifullah Niazi, Dr Raheeq Abbasi, Asad Umar and others.
On August 31, 2014, in an attempt to topple the PML-N government, the PTI and PAT workers had marched towards the Prime Minister’s House and the police were ordered to thwart their march. Subsequent clashes between the protesters and law enforcers resulted in the deaths of three PAT workers. Hundreds others, including both demonstrators and policemen, were wounded.
Hundreds of protesters, allegedly belonging to the PTI and PAT, had briefly seized and shut down the state broadcaster on Sept 1, 2014, at a time when the country was in the grip of an intense political crisis spearheaded by Imran and Qadri and others.
The protesters had stormed the PTV headquarters on the Constitution Avenue and transmission of the PTV News and PTV World was cut off for almost half-an hour. Later, army troops had cleared the buildings and transmission was restored.
The FIR was registered on a complaint by Secretariat SHO Inspector Mehboob Ahmed. In his application, the complainant said that the protesters attacked the government building after snatching weapons from policemen.
Meanwhile, the court sources revealed that charge-sheet in one of the cases has yet to be submitted even after the lapse of a year. Also, the state counsel once again did not appear before the court. The case has been adjourned till December 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2015.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ