ISLAMABAD: An area court docket on Monday acquitted former prime minister Imran Khan and different Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders within the instances practically two years after they had been registered for alleged violence, riots, obstructing public service and mischief by fireplace or explosive substance with intent to trigger injury through the May 25 Azadi March.
Moreover the ex-premier, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Qasim Suri, Zartaj Gul, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Javed, Shireen Mazari, Saifullah Niazi, Asad Umar and Awami Muslim League chairman Sheikh Rashid had been acquitted.
Judicial magistrates Mureed Abbas and Shahzad Khan pronounced the verdicts, which had been reserved after arguments, within the instances registered at Karachi Firm and Kohsar police stations in 2022.
The Karachi Firm police had booked Imran Khan, Mr Qureshi, Ms Mazari, Mr Niazi, Mr Umar, Ms Gul, Mr Awan and Mr Javed beneath Sections 109 (abetment), 148 (rioting armed with lethal weapon), 149 (illegal meeting), 186 (obstructing public service), 188 (disobedience), 353 (assault on public servant), 427 (inflicting injury) and 435 (mischief by fireplace or explosive substance with intent to trigger injury) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
An an identical FIR was registered on the Kohsar police station towards Mr Khan, Mr Qureshi, Mr Rashid, Mr Awan and Mr Suri on the grievance of Sub-Inspector (SI) Asif Raza on Could 26, at 1.50am.
Through the proceedings earlier than judicial Justice of the Peace Abbas, the counsel for the PTI, Naeem Panjotha, argued that the case couldn’t proceed because the FIR had been filed by an “unauthorised particular person” because the authority to lodge the case rested solely with the one who had imposed Part 144. Moreover, the lawyer argued that no video proof could possibly be offered towards the ex-premier within the case.
The defence counsel requested the court docket to acquit the PTI founder because the allegations made towards him had been baseless. He additionally knowledgeable the court docket that the instances instituted towards Imran Khan had been all politically motivated.
He insisted that the PTI protest was peaceable, claiming that bushes weren’t torched by any protester. He was of the opinion that the bushes had caught fireplace because of police shelling. He requested the court docket to honorably acquit the PTI founding chairman and different accused.
Imran Khan’s march for “Haqeeqi Azadi” (actual freedom) on Could 25, 2022 was preceded by the authorities invoking Part 144, a measure used to curb gatherings. Transport containers had been positioned on main thoroughfares to dam their path.
Undeterred by the strikes, the marchers, who tried to pressure by the containers to make their technique to Islamabad, had been met with tear gasoline as police tried to disperse them. Police additionally charged at them with batons.
Printed in Daybreak, Could twenty first, 2024