LAHORE: A Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday approved interim bails of top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Punjab a day after it issued non-bailable arrest warrants for them over multiple charges including alleged violations of Section 144 and attacks on law enforcement agencies on May 25 — the day PTI workers marched to Islamabad.
According to the court order issued Thursday, investigating officer Muhammad Saleem had requested the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants for PTI leaders Mian Akram Usman, Muhammad Zubair Khan Niazi, Imtiaz Mehmood Sheikh, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Mian Shafqat Mehmood, Malik Nadeem Abbas, Dr. Murad Raas, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Yasir Gilani, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Hammad Azhar, Andleeb Abbas, and Ijaz Chaudhry.
The orders were sought on the grounds of their “intentionally concealing themselves in order to avoid their arrest and their arrest is necessary for completion of the investigation”. Subsequently, the court of Judge Abher Gul Khan issued the warrants.
By Friday all the PTI leaders named in the cases arrived in court and applied for interim bails. The court accepted their requests and stopped the police from arresting them till June 17. Accepting their pleas, the court directed each of the petitioners to submit Rs100,000 as the surety against bails.
In a media talk outside court after securing interim bail, Hammad Azhar accused PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of turning the country into a “police fascist state”.
“Today, we are here in front of a terrorism court, but none of us are terrorists,” he said. “The people present here are those who took to the streets for a peaceful protest on May 25.”
Azhar claimed that Maryam and Sanaullah had passed “special orders to include terrorism charges” in the FIRs. “The imported government today is registering FIRs against those who came out to protest peacefully … which is our constitutional and legal right.
“Rana Sanaullah and Maryam want to make this a police fascist state so that no one can raise their voice against their greed for power,” he said. “Today, I want to ask: Where is the law and Constitution?”
The PTI leader added that the “reality behind the deaths of Maqsood ‘Chaprasi’ and Dr Rizwan (FIA investigator) will soon become apparent”. “We will find out whether theirs were natural deaths or murders.”
The Gulberg police and Shahdra police had registered First Information Reports (FIR) against the alleged perpetrators under different sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) including 7-ATA related to punishment for terrorist activities and violence.
The court had issued the warrants on the request of Shahdara police station. While the anti-terrorism court Judge Abhar Gul Khan had issued the arrest warrants.
On June 9, the Supreme Court was apprised by law enforcement agencies that a “crowd was organised to enter Red Zone under the PTI leadership who had reached Express Chowk with the intent to proceed further towards D-Chowk as per the directions of the party’s highest command”.
On June 1, the apex court sought reports from director generals of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as Islamabad IG police, interior secretary and others over the alleged involvement of PTI leaders in instigating party workers to reach Islamabad’s D-Chowk in violation of its May 25 order.