Saturday, the Lahore anti-terror court (ATC) reserved its judgment on PTI founder Imran Khan’s pre-arrest bail petitions in three cases of the May 9 riots. The prosecution equated last year’s protests to Capitol Hill attacks while the defense dismissed claims of conspiracy.
Last Submissions and Postponements 9 May Cases
During closing arguments, Mr Khan’s lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, submitted that his client had been unjustly treated for a year. Judge Khalid Arshad said there were delays for various reasons, including some from the petitioner’s counsel. He highlighted how the High Court had directed that the trial court mark suspect attendance via video link from jail. For this cause, he stated the court would try again to arrange Imran Khan’s presence through a video link.
The prosecutor confirmed that the jail administration sent a WhatsApp message verifying Mr. Khan’s incarceration at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. After this, Justice Khalid ordered that the petitioner’s counsel present the Jinnah House attack case.
Replying Defense 9 MayÂ
Barrister Safdar complained that authorities illegally arrested Imran Khan on May 9, 2023, when he went to the Islamabad High Court seeking bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case. He said people reacted to Khan’s arrest on May 9, and Khan learned about the attacks on state institutions only after the Supreme Court produced him.
He underscored that in front of the Supreme Court and IHC, Imran condemned those attacks of May 9.
It highlighted that on May 11, the Supreme Court declared Mr. Khan’s arrest and physical remand illegal and contended that how could Mr.Khan have known about the events of May 9 when he had been detained two days prior? According to JJudge Arshad, who disturbed law and order before May 9? “Those who illegally detained Imran Khan,” replied the lawyer.
Safdar observed that Imran Khan, a former 71-year-old premier without any criminal record, has thousands of politically motivated charges against him. He argued that ordinary criminals commit their first crime when they are 17, not when they are 71.
Argument from Prosecution 9 May
Judge Arshad noted that the prosecution file had mentioned a conspiracy hatched in Imran Khan’s Zaman Park house through a Zoom meeting with evidence from Pemra and social media speeches by PTI leaders. Prosecutor Rana Azhar revealed separate conspiracies in Zoom meetings and Zaman Park, with witnesses testifying.
Unique Prosecutor Rana Abdul Jabbar said Imran Khan released a video on social media before he went to the Islamabad court.”This self-proclaimed Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal incited the attack on Jinnah House,” the special prosecutor said, referring to Khan.
summary
The court’s PTI lawyers reacted angrily to what they thought was a prosecutor’s aggravating comments, urging him to consider focusing on the case as Barrister Safdar did. At the same time, Judge Khalid reminded them about being relevant in arguments.
He claimed that all participants and collaborators in the Jinnah House attack were culpable. Judge Arshad pointed out that facilitators may not be physically present at crime scenes.
