An anti-terrorism court has acquitted President Arif Alvi, federal ministers, and other PTI leaders in a case involving an attack on Parliament House and Pakistan Television (PTV).
The verdict was announced on Tuesday by ATC Judge Muhammad Ali Warraich.
After removing President Alvi’s presidential immunity on March 4, the court deferred its decision on his appeal to be acquitted in the parliament attack case.
In the same case, the court acquitted PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pervaiz Khattak, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Jehangir Tareen, Aleem Khan, Saif Ullah Niazi, Ijaz Chaudhry, and others.
After hearing arguments from all of the accused’s counsel, the court reserved the verdict and announced it today.
The prosecution had also supported the accused’s acquittal petitions.
After his appearance in court, Defence Minister Khattak told the media that he was asleep at home on the day of the parliament attack. He claimed he didn’t understand why his name was mentioned in the case. He counseled his opponents to consider their options before acting.
During the PTI’s sit-in against the then-PML-N government in 2014, the president and several others were charged in the parliament and PTV attack case.
The PTI and Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek activists marched to the PM House during an anti-government rally on August 31, 2014. The police were directed to prevent the opposition from marching, which resulted in skirmishes between the police and PTI and PAT supporters. During the confrontation, three PAT employees were killed, and hundreds of others, including demonstrators and police officers, were injured.
On September 1, 2014, hundreds of demonstrators, including PTI Chief Imran Khan, PAT leader Tahirul Qadri, and others, briefly seized and shut down the PTV. For over half an hour, PTV News and PTV World were unavailable to watch. Then army personnel arrived and removed the buildings, restoring communication.
The Secretariat SHO Mehboob Ahmed filed a complaint alleging that PTI and PAT demonstrators attacked the government building after seizing weapons from law enforcement officers.
