Rawalpindi:
More than two weeks have passed since a regular bank of the Supreme Court (SC) led by the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJ) Yayha Afridi ordered the Anti -Terrorist Courts (ATC) that heard on May 9 cases of disturbances to conclude the trial in four months.
However, the ATC in Punjab have not yet received the SC order “through adequate channels.”
On April 8, the Apex court ordered the ATCs to conclude the trials of the uproar of May 9 in four months, an order that will have implications for the former prime minister and founder of PTI Imran Khan.
The Court also ordered the courts of first instance to submit reports of biweekly progress in the respective provincial superior courts regarding the judgments.
Rawalpindi ATC sources told Express PAkGazette that the SC order has not yet been received by any ATC.
First they said the order will be received by the Office of the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC) President of the Supreme Court.
From there, through the LHC registrar, Shahbaz Rizvi will be sent to Judge Atc, who will call a special meeting regarding this matter. After that, the decision will be sent, through adequate channels, at 11 ATC in Punjab, including the one in Rawalpindi.
Later they said that a mechanism will be developed, in consultation with the defense lawyers, government prosecutors and senior police officers, to guarantee rapid hearings in the cases of May 9. High police officers will be responsible for guaranteeing the timely appearance of witnesses on the dates given.
Faisal Malik’s defense lawyer told The Express PAkGazette that an application has been submitted on behalf of Imran Khan to consolidate all cases of May 9 for a joint trial.
“A verdict could be expected within four months only if all cases were heard together by a single judge in one place. Otherwise, the cases could advance for years.”
Meanwhile, the different police stations research teams in ATOCK presented charges to the ATC in Rawalpindi in the 15 different cases of vandalism presented after the PTI protests of November 25 and November 26.
