President Alvi, PM Imran seek acquittal in Parliament attack case

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday filed applications seeking acquittal from an anti-terrorism court pertaining to the Parliament and Pakistan Television (PTV) attack case during the 2014 sit-in.

Counsel for the president Mohammad Ali Bukhari and counsel for the prime minister Babar Awan filed the acquittal applications under Section 265-K. The court directed the prosecution to present its arguments in the case on October 22.
Referring to the charges as groundless, Awan claimed there was no probability of conviction even if the case was to be heard by the court.

On September 27, an ATC granted protection to the president under Article 248 (2) of the Constitution and the case was “adjourned sine die” – with no appointed date for resumption.

In the order, Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi had stated that Alvi is entitled to protection as he was elected and has taken oath as the president of Pakistan.

At the time the president’s counsel said he was not aware of any such order because he had not sought any such relief from the ATC.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Bokhari said if the court had passed any such order on the previous date of hearing, it was not in his knowledge.

“I have been instructed by the presidency to file an acquittal appeal on the next date of hearing,” he said, adding that he would file acquittal appeal on October 1. Nonetheless, he said, law provides protection to the president.

Earlier, ATC had confirmed interim pre-arrest bails to the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Dr Alvi, Asad Umar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shafqat Mehmood, and Raja Khurram Nawaz in the cases.

In the cases, leaders and over a hundred workers and supporters of the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were booked. The workers, who were arrested, were later released on bail in the cases.

On August 31, 2014, in an attempt to topple the PML-N government, PTI and PAT workers had marched on the Parliament and the PM House while clashing with police along the way.

On September 1, 2014, hundreds of men, allegedly protesters from the PTI and PAT camps, had ransacked the PTV office, parliament premises. Imran, PAT chief Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked over their alleged involvement in the attack.

Source: Express Tribune