Lahore, Jul 31: A Pakistan court on Thursday handed down 10-year jail term each to 166 members, including some lawmakers, of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan party in connection with the May 9, 2023 attack on ISI building and other military installations in Punjab province.
The sentencing of leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) –including opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate and several other lawmakers — has come just a week before the proposed launch of ‘Free Imran Khan Movement’ from August 5 across the country.
The PTI has strongly condemned the verdict by the Faisalabad Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) terming it a part of a plan to disqualify its lawmakers from the parliament and stopping the party from holding a peaceful protest.
On May 9, 2023, Khan’s party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), Mianwali Airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad, some 130 kms from Lahore. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time protesting Khan’s arrest.
The ATC Faisalabad on Thursday convicted 108 out of 185 accused and acquitted the remaining 77 individuals in the ISI building attack case in Faisalabad.
In the case related to an attack on a police station in Faisalabad, 58 accused have been handed down to 10 years in prison each.
The court handed down 10-year prison sentences each to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz, and prominent PTI leaders Zartaj Gul and Sahibzada Hamid Raza.
The convicts include six members of the National Assembly, one from the Punjab Assembly, and one Senator. So far, 14 legislators from the PTI have been convicted and disqualified related to the May 9 incident trials.
PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali said the PTI would challenge the verdict in the Lahore High Court.
“The PTI lawmakers are disqualified in the name of the May 9 incident, based on testimony from the police officers,” he said and added that many PTI lawmakers’ status in both National Assembly and Senate stands disqualified.
Gohar Ali said the government had a plan to elect its members in the parliament and Senate on the seats of disqualified PTI lawmakers.
He said for the first time ever, all opposition leaders from Punjab, Senate and National Assembly, are convicted in politically motivated cases.
Earlier on July 22, Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore handed down 10-year sentences to seven prominent PTI leaders in the May 9, 2023 case related to the Sharpao Bridge riots.
The 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was ousted from office in April 2022 after conviction in a corruption case. He has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was booked in multiple cases, most of them after his removal from office.
His arrest had resulted in vandalism and riots on May 9, 2023 and around 10,000 PTI supporters were then arrested.
Over 100 PTI loyalists, including the party supremo’s nephew Hassan Khan, were handed over to the military custody and later the military courts awarded 2 to 10 years imprisonment to them. Hassan Khan is undergoing a 10-year term.
Meanwhile, Khan’s sister Aleema Khan recently said her brother’s sons — Suleman and Kasim — would come to Pakistan to take part in the PTI protest movement that will be kicked off on August 5.
On July 11, Punjab province’s Information Minister and a leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Azma Bokhari had made it clear that Khan’s sons would be dealt with strictly if they visit Pakistan to join any “violent protest” here and that they would not be allowed to create unrest in the country. PTI
