Withdrawal requests will be submitted after receiving cabinet minutes, leaving no pending cases from the May protests.
Protesters throw stones after police fired tear gas to disperse them in Lahore on May 9, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government plans to withdraw more than 55 cases filed against PTI workers during the May 9-10 protests after a cabinet decision.
Attorney General Shah Faisal Utmankhel said 319 cases were registered during the protests. Most of the accused have been acquitted or acquitted due to lack of evidence. The 55 pending cases will be withdrawn once the minutes of the cabinet meeting are received and Additional Advocate General Inam Yousafzai has been appointed as special prosecutor to oversee the process.
Read: KP govt takes steps to quash May 9 cases
Some cases did not include anti-terrorism clauses, while others were decided after responses were submitted to the courts. The 55 unanswered cases are the ones that will be withdrawn. Of those with provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 29 remain pending, while 23 have concluded with eight acquittals. The remaining cases were transferred to regular courts because the provisions of the ATA could not be applied.
Six cases are still pending, one of them received a response and the remaining five are still pending. Once the cabinet minutes are received, withdrawal applications will be submitted and argued in court, leaving no cases pending from the protests.
Read more: KP govt clears May 9 cases from interim era
According to a report on Saturday, there are 416 terrorism cases pending in 10 Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Peshawar accounts for 192 such cases in three courts.
In November 2025, 100 cases were resolved throughout the province. Peshawar resolved 57, Matta 15 and Mardan seven, while Swat and Upper Dir decided three each. Meanwhile, the courts of Buner, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan did not decide anything.
