(Clockwise) Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Photo: Files
LAHORE:
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has convicted some key PTI leaders – Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhary, Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omar Sarfraz Cheema – in two other May 9 riots cases.
ATC judge Arshad Javed revealed his orders in a courtroom of the Lahore Kot Lakhpat jail in the Kalma Chowk and Gulberg cases on Saturday.
The authorities had registered in view of the acts of vandalism that occurred in Lahore following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, 2023.
In the Gulberg case, the ATC awarded ten-year prison sentences to Dr Yasmin, Chaudhary Rasheed and Cheema. The defendants were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 for inciting rebellion and provoking public disorder during the May 9 incidents.
The court also ordered the arrest and production of 12 proclaimed offenders, including Mian Aslam Iqbal, Murad Saeed, Zubair Niazi, Ali Hassan Nawaz, Shabbir Hussain, Aziz-ur-Rehman, Zarif Khan, Syed Khan, Muhammad Javed, Abdul Samad, Hammad Azhar and Wasiq Qayyum.
The police filed charges against 37 accused, of whom 24 were also tried.
During the trial, the prosecution filed indictments against 36 defendants. Interestingly, PTI Vice President Shah Mahmood Qurshi was also among the accused, but the authorities did not submit a charge sheet against him.
The trial against Shah will take place in the second phase once the ATC receives its charge sheet.
The ATC found Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mahmoodur Rasheed, Ejaz Chaudhray and Omar Sarfraz Cheema also guilty in the Gulberg vehicle burning case.
These leaders and three others were also sentenced to 10 years in prison in this case. The court, however, acquitted 22 defendants.
A total of 33 accused were named in the charge sheet, of which four – Shehzad Khurram, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Ali Malik and Shabnam Jahangir – were declared offenders. The court held the trial of 29 defendants.
A day earlier, another ATC in Lahore had declared Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhary and Mahmoodur Rasheed – guilty in the GOR Gate attack case – also a May 9 case and sentenced to ten years in prison each.
The court, however, acquitted other PTI leaders and workers, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, after the prosecution failed to establish their cases.
ATC judge Manzar Ali Gill ruled that in case of non-payment of the fine, the convicts would have to undergo additional imprisonment of one year.
