ATC Acquits PM Imran in Parliament Attack Case

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court Islamabad acquitted Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2014 Parliament House attack case on Thursday.

ATC judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan, announced the ruling today.

According to the further details, the court has summoned federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Mahmood and Asad Umar on November 21 for indictment among other provincial ministers.

The petition for PM Imran’s acquittal was submitted by a lawyer for the federal government, with the prosecutor arguing at the last hearing that the case was made on political grounds and that it would be “a waste of the court’s time”.

The court also decided to halt proceedings against President Dr Arif Alvi.

Due to the presidential immunity granted to President Arif Alvi under Article 248 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against him during his term of office.

An audio file was also leaked on social media during a PTI sit-in six years ago, in which the country’s current president, Arif Alvi, was telling his party chairman, Imran Khan, that PTI workers were moving towards Pakistan Television and the Parliament. In response, the incumbent Prime Minister was saying to him, “Okay, let them go.”

Meanwhile, Dr Tahirul Qadri, the chief of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), has been declared fugitive in the case.

On September 1, 2014, hundreds of men, alleged protesters from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) camps, had allegedly ransacked the office of the PTV and parliament premises and brutally beaten up a senior police official, less than 24 hours into his first day on the job as SSP operations.

PM Imran, PAT Chief Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked over their alleged involvement in the attack during the 2014 sit-ins in the capital.

The SSP Asmatullah Junejo attack case was filed after the 2014 sit-ins in which ATC had acquitted the PTI chairperson in 2018.

During previous proceedings, the prime minister’s counsel Abdullah Babar Awan filed written arguments seeking the PM’s acquittal. The arguments maintained that there was no evidence against the prime minister’s involvement in the case, and no eyewitness had come forward regarding this.

In addition, the prosecution is not ready to take further legal action against the premier, the statement read.

Political leaders and over a hundred workers and supporters were also booked in the cases. The workers who were arrested were later released on bail.