Punjab govt approves jail trial of Jinnah House attack suspects

Punjab’s ministry of law and justice has approved to hold a jail trial of suspects in the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commanders House) attack on May 9.

The provincial ministry on Monday issued a notification regarding the decision, stating that the trail of all suspects will be held inside the Central Jail in Lahore.

Additionally, the suspects in the Askari Tower attack case and the Shadman Police Station attack will also be tried inside the jail as per the notification.

On October 7, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore declared five PTI leaders as proclaimed offenders in a case pertaining to burning cars near the Jinnah House.

Hammad Azhar, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hasaan Niazi, Ghulam Abbas, and Ali Abbas were the five PTI leaders.

The court announced the decision in view of the police report submitted to it that claimed that the five PTI leaders had gone into hiding after fearing arrests.

Violent protests had broke out following PTI chief Imran Khan’s first arrest on May 9 in a graft case. Several PTI leaders and workers have been arrested in the government crackdown on the protesters who vandalised state buildings and military installations.

It is pertinent to mention that Khan’s trial in the cipher case is also being held inside the jail. The ministry of law and justice in a notification on October 3, approved conducting the hearing of the cipher case against the PTI chief in Adiala jail.

According to the notification by the law ministry, the trial was to be held inside the Adiala jail.

The notification adds that the law and justice division says it has ‘no objection’ to the trial being held in jail until security clearance is granted for Imran Khan.