LAHORE:
An anti -terrorism court (ATC) in Faisalabad on Monday sentenced 59 people, including PTI Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz and Zartaj Gul leaders, 10 years in prison in another case on May 9.
Of the 109 defendants, the ATC Javed Iqbal Sheikh judge also sentenced 16 defendants to 3 years in prison for attacking the residence of the PML-N Rana Sanullah leader, who also belongs to Faisalabad.
Judge Sheikh also ordered the confiscation of the properties of 42 supporters and workers of PTI.
However, the Court acquitted 34 defendants, including former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and PTI Mna Zain Qureshi, after the prosecution could not establish their participation in the positions mentioned above.
The case was part of a series of judgments related to the violent protests that exploded after the first arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan of the facilities of the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC) on May 9, 2023.
Previously, on July 31, an ATC in Faisalabad sentenced the main leaders of PTI, including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Sartaj Gul, MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza and former Sheikh Rashid Shafiq to ten years in prison in another case of May 9.
In his verdict issued on Monday, the ATC judge observed that a culture of nihilism was intentionally promoted with “solipsist approach” and it was made that workers believe that only they are laudable and that everyone else is condemnable.
“Apart from them, no one more political and ethically has a valid cause and other political factions do not even exist, such as the unique reality with a claim of own justice,” he said, he said.
He said that with this type of political training, anything destructive could be achieved as fateful events of May 9, which, they said, violated all the established political norms, universally accepted, by all civilized nations in the world.
“This is not a case of FIR of unique occurrence, but it is the case of a conspiracy to create violent events throughout the country in case of arrest of the president of PTI Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi and it is very possible that a conspiracy of such magnitude can lead to numerous cases, when they plan and organize a political part that has a great membership of their followers.”
Previously, the defense councils had argued that only three witnesses of the alleged conspiracy were born at the Rose Hotel in the Chakri area of the residence of the Zaman Park of Rawalpindi and Imran Khan.
They said that the participation of witnesses, Asmat Kamal, Hassam Afzal and Muhamad Khalid, all police officers, in two alleged meetings were very doubtful for their own revelations.
They said that Witness Asmat Kamal admitted that the local leadership was known by him before the alleged meeting at the Rose Hotel for his longest period of service in Rawalpindi.
In addition, he could not produce any report of his arrival and departure to the Chakri police station.
Similarly, the witnesses of the meeting in Zaman Park admitted that the Imran residence facilities were monitored by the heavy police deployment of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and there were so many control points in which the identity of each participant was being carefully examined.
Therefore, his presence in the alleged place of the meeting was not established at all.
They argued that the witnesses of the Prosecutor’s Office were in variation of so many points regarding the participation of the accused in presumption and role of the accused people.
On Monday, Judge Sheikh also issued arrest orders not in the stock market for 75 convicts, including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Sartaj Gul and others due to his absence in the courtroom.
He directed the CPO of Faisalab to present them before the court so that they could be sent to jail to submit to their sentences pronounced on August 25.
According to the trials announced by several ATC in the cases of May 9, entire properties of more than 160 convicts have been confiscated, including former Punjab governor, Umar Sarfraz Chema, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry and Mehmoodur Rasheed.
The properties have been lost under section 7 (2) of the Anti -Terrorism Law, 1997.
On May 9, 2023, PTI’s legislators and supporters attacked military facilities in Pakistan following Imran’s arrest for paramilitary rangers.
Later, the Government launched a hard hand repression against the former ruling party while registered Fir against thousands of people, including the founder of PTI Imran Khan.
More than 100 workers and PTI supporters were also delivered to the military authorities for their trial in the military courts.
