An anti-terrorism courtroom (ATC) in Sargodha has sentenced Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) employee Muhammad Ismail to rigorous life imprisonment for his function within the Might 9, 2023 riots, which included an assault on a judicial complicated in Mianwali, Daybreak reported.
The decision, issued on Friday by Choose Muhammad Naeem Sheikh, additionally declared 50 others–including senior PTI leaders and sitting lawmakers–as proclaimed offenders. Amongst these named are former Punjab opposition chief Ahmad Khan Bhachar and MNAs Ahmad Chatha and Bilal Ijaz, Daybreak said.
The courtroom directed the Mianwali police chief to arrest all 51 fugitives inside a month and produce them earlier than the courtroom.
In response to Daybreak, the courtroom convicted Ismail underneath a number of sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act, handing down three life phrases, a further 15 years of rigorous imprisonment, and fines exceeding Rs 3.5 million. The courtroom additionally ordered the forfeiture of his property.
Three separate FIRs had been registered at Metropolis Police Station, Mianwali, accusing a whole bunch of PTI leaders and staff of rioting, attacking a Pakistan Air Power base, torching public property, and setting fireplace to courtroom data. Most parliamentarians and staff have been added to the FIRs months after the incidents.
Malik Shafqat Abbas Awan, a PTI MNA and counsel for one of many accused, slammed the ruling. “A black spot on the face of the judiciary,” he stated, alleging that Ismail had already been acquitted in two associated circumstances and that the courtroom relied on proof “already been rejected.”
In a associated growth, Daybreak reported that an ATC in Rawalpindi issued arrest warrants for 18 senior PTI leaders in reference to a protest held on November 26, 2024, in Wah Cantt.
These named embody Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur; Aleema Khan, sister of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan; former federal minister Sheikh Waqas Akram; former provincial minister Ijaz Khan Jazi; and former MNA Kanwal Shozab.
The courtroom directed the police to arrest the accused and produce them by August 8. It additionally summoned the investigating officer with the entire case report.
Prosecutors argued that the accused have been “intentionally evading arrest and ignoring repeated courtroom summons, thereby obstructing the authorized proceedings.”
Prosecutor Zaheer Abbas advised the courtroom that their continued absence was “affecting the judicial course of and undermining the rule of legislation.”
The courtroom additionally heard an utility looking for cancellation of bail for 68 accused in a associated case. Notices have been issued to their sureties, and proceedings have been adjourned till August 5.
The courtroom warned that authorized motion can be initiated not solely in opposition to absconding people but in addition in opposition to those that had furnished their bail sureties if the accused failed to seem.