LAHORE:
An anti -terrorism court (ATC) dismissed on Saturday the provisional bail requests for PTI Senior Omar Ayub in three separate cases related to the disturbances of May 9.
The cases involve alleged attacks against military facilities, including the Jinnah house in Lahore and the Askari Tower, during the riots throughout the country caused by the arrest of the founder of PTI Imran Khan on May 9, 2023.
The ATC judge, Manzar Ali Gul, hearing the requests, rejected the supplications because of the repeated absence of Omar of the judicial procedures. The judge also rejected his request for an exemption from one day of the appearance.
Omar had previously secured an interim bond in the cases under the condition of regular assistance. However, on July 31, an ATC in Faisalabad issued prison sentences of up to 10 years to multiple PTI leaders, including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Gul Sartej and Sahibzada Hamid Raza, in other cases related to May 9.
After his convictions, the National Assembly on Friday unottified Omar as opposition leader. Sartaj Gul was also stripped of his position as PTI parliamentary leader, while Ahmad Chattha was eliminated as an attached parliamentary leader.
Meanwhile, Sartaj Gul presented an appeal in the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC) challenging his conviction for the ATC. The appeal, presented through his lawyer, lawyer Ali Zafar and Muhammad Hussain, will be taken by a division bank on Monday.
The petition argues that Sartaj was not nominated at the FIR nor found physically present in the scene, and that its inclusion through a complementary statement was not justified. This, he argues, raises serious doubts about the authenticity of the accusations, which were not considered in the trial.
In addition, he affirms that the “contested trial” was approved “in a hurried way and Slipshod” based on three witnesses of prosecution, who admitted in the interrogation that they had not appointed it, but was convicted and handed her a severe sentence.
In a related development, the ATC in Lahore will announce its verdict tomorrow (August 11) in two other cases of May 9 related to vandalism out of Rahat Bakery and the Shadman police station. The court had reserved its decision earlier this week after concluding the procedures in the Kot Lakhppp prison.
