Rawalpindi:
The hearing of the GHQ attack case of May 9 took a dramatic turn on Friday when a key witness of the prosecution went abroad, defense lawyers boycotted the procedures and the Anti -Terrorist Court (ATC) pressed registering statements from two other witnesses.
The procedures began with the revelations that the Tasadduq sub -inspector, considered a key witness of the government, had left the country with his family after giving only a partial statement. The researchers were forced to summon another witness in the short term to maintain the trial in motion.
The controversy deepened when the founder of PTI, Imran Khan, who had been ordered to appear through a video link, connected through WhatsApp. It appeared for just over three minutes before cutting the connection. Both Imran Khan and his legal team denounced the process, qualifying the unconstitutional WhatsApp agreement and boycotting the trial.
“Invumir in person or make an adequate prison trial in everyone’s presence,” Khan said, according to reports, to his lawyers. He argued that video link procedures deprived him of a fair consultation with his defense team.
After the boycott, the ATC judge, Amjad Ali Shah, allowed the prosecution’s request to continue without the defense and recorded the statements of the Manzoor Shehzad and Salem Qureshi sub -inspectors.
The two witnesses presented 13 USB units containing 40 video clips allegedly linked to Imran, as well as images of CCTV cameras installed in Benazir Bhutto Road, Mall Road, Liaquat Bagh and adjacent areas.
They also presented cuts from national newspapers and videos of PTI leaders, including Khawaja Khokhar, Shehryar Afridi, Umar Tanveer, Sadqat Abbasi and Sikandar Mirza.
The defense protested earlier in the day, arguing that the trial through WhatsApp fell short of a formal video link. “This is not a video link, this is a WhatsApp call: undermines the right to a fair trial in article 10 of the Constitution,” said lawyer Faisal Malik to the court.
He argued that without the ability to consult their client privately, lawyers could not defend it effectively. Prosecutors counteracted that the video link agreement was legal according to amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure and the provisions of the Anti -Terrorism Law.
They argued that transferring the place of trial was an executive decision of the Punjab government and could not be questioned in the ATC.
Judge Shah dismissed the objections of the defense and postponed the case until September 23, calling 10 more witnesses for the next hearing. He also rejected a request to summon Imran Khan in person.
The hearing took place under extraordinary security, with 700 police personnel deployed around the ATC. The roads outside the court were sealed with barbed wire, the multimedia vehicles were restricted and many lawyers were denied.
