LAHORE:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Sargodha condemned Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) worker Ismael Khan to perpetual chain and lost all his property to the state in relation to a riot case of May 9 presented to the Mianwali Police.
This is the third sentence among those that are delivered by the anti -terrorist courts in which the entire property of the convict has been lost to the government. A total of 120 leaders and workers of PTI have confiscated their properties.
Previously, a Faisalabad court lost the properties of 90 convicts to the government, while another 29 had their properties lost by the Sargodha court under Section 7 (2) of the 1997 Anti -Terrorist Law.
Read more: Omar Ayub de PTI, Shibli Faraz sentenced to 10 years in cases of May 9
On May 9, 2023, PTI legislators and supporters organized violent protests throughout the country in response to the arrest of the founder of the Imran Khan party. The protests involved vandalism of military facilities and state buildings, including the house of the body commander in Lahore.
The case involves charges against 53 accused people, including prominent PTI legislators such as opposition leaders Omar Ayub (National Assembly) and Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar (Punjab Assembly).
However, two defendants, Ayub and Ziaul Haq, initially escaped during their statements under section 342 of the CRPC. In addition, another 50 defendants fled during the final arguments, which led to their case being separated from that of the remaining defendant after proclamations were issued.
The ATC judge said they seemed to make attempts to delay the procedures of these fugitives, which may indicate deliberate efforts to prolong the decision of the case.
