Islamabad:
Friday, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad was sentenced and sentenced 11 accused on various prison conditions and fines in affairs related to violence on May 9, 2023, to attack the Ramna police station, attacking the police, putting the properties on fire and distributing terrorism.
The condemned men are the member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) of the National Assembly Abdul Latif and former member of the Assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (MPA) Wazirzada Kilashi.
After the verdict, four convicts were arrested in the premises of the court, while mandates were issued against seven others.
The four convicts arrested were Muhammad Akram, Mira Khan, Shahzeb and Sohail Khan. Mandates have been delivered against Abdul Latif, Wazirzada Kilashi, Zaryab Khan, Samuel Robert, Abdul Basit, Shan Ali and Muhammad Yousuf.
ATC judge Tahir Abbas Sipra made the verdict, declaring that the accused had attacked the Ramna police station and opened fire, trampled stones and tried to kill the police. The accused also set fire to motorcycles.
The court said that the accused had been sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 rupees each for terrorism; Five years in prison and a fine of 50,000 rupees each for trying to kill police officers; Four years in prison and a fine of 40,000 rupees each for burning motorcycles.
Another four -year prison period and a fine of 40,000 rupees have each been allocated for burning the police station; Three months in prison for interfering in police work; And one month in prison for violation of article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC).
On May 9, cases referred to violent attacks against state facilities in 2023 after the arrest of the founder of the PTI, Imran Khan, on corruption accusations. Several people were arrested in these cases, which were tried and sentenced by military courts as well as ATCs in different cities.
Meanwhile, ATCs across the country have heard more cases. In April, a bench of three members of the Supreme Court, led by chief judge Yahya Afridi, ordered the ATC to decide on the affairs of May 9 in the four months.
Among these, 14 cases of the district of Lahore were pending in two ATCs in the capital of Punjab, which are heard daily in the central prison of Kot Lakhpat. However, an ATC judge declared that the unavailability of cases files created obstacles to the Court to respect the deadline of the Supreme Court.
ATC administrative judge Manzer Ali Gill wrote to the Punjab Attorney General Syed Farhad Ali Shah, stressing that police files were not available for the assistant prosecutor leading the trial for a reason or another.
The judge said he had brought the case to the accusation note for taking the necessary measures to record as many witnesses as possible on each hearing date. Otherwise, the court would proceed according to the law.
It was noted that most of the May 9 cases were adjourned due to the unavailability of cases of cases. On each date, police officials informed the courts that business files were available from the Supreme Court.
(With the contribution of our Lahore correspondent)
