(Clockwise) Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Photo: Files
LAHORE:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has convicted some key PTI leaders — Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhary, Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omar Sarfraz Cheema — in two more May 9 rioting cases.
ATC Judge Arshad Javed on Saturday unveiled his orders in a courtroom in Lahore Kot Lakhpat Jail in relation to the Kalma Chowk and the Gulberg cases.
Authorities had registered in view of the acts of vandalism that transpired in Lahore in the wake of former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, 2023.
In the Gulberg case, the ATC handed down ten-year prison sentences to Dr Yasmin, Chaudhary Rasheed, and Cheema. The accused were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 for inciting rebellion and provoking public unrest during the May 9 incidents.
The court also ordered the arrest and production of 12 proclaimed offenders, including Mian Aslam Iqbal, Murad Saeed, Zubair Niazi, Ali Hassan Nawaz, Shabbir Hussain, Aziz-ur-Rehman, Zarif Khan, Syed Khan, Muhammad Javed, Abdul Samad, Hammad Azhar, and Wasiq Qayyum.
The police had filed the case against 37 accused, 24 of which also stood trial.
During the trial, the prosecution filed charge-sheets against 36 accused. Interestingly, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qurshi was also among the accused but authorities did not submit a charge-sheet against him.
Trial against Shah will take place in the second phase once the ATC receives his charge-sheet.
The ATC found Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mahmoodur Rasheed, Ejaz Chaudhray, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema guilty also in the Gulberg vehicle-burning case.
These leaders and three others were sentenced to 10-year prison terms also in the case. The court, however, acquitted 22 accused.
A total of 33 accused had been named in the charge-sheet, with four — Shehzad Khurram, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Ali Malik, and Shabnam Jahangir — declared proclaimed offenders. The court held the trial of 29 accused.
A day earlier, another ATC in Lahore found Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhary and Mahmoodur Rasheed — guilty in the GOR Gate attack case — also a May 9 case and sentenced each to ten years in prison.
The court had, however, acquitted some other PTI leaders and workers including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, after prosecution failed to establish the case on them.
ATC Judge Manzar Ali Gill ruled that in case of their failure to pay the fine, the convicts would have to undergo an additional one-year imprisonment.
