SSP Junejo assault case: Prosecution told to present witnesses against PTI, PAT leaders

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Tuesday directed the prosecution to produce witnesses against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri among others over the assault on SSP Asmatullah Junejo.

ATC Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi directed the prosecution to produce their witnesses for establishing their case against the suspects at the next hearing of the case scheduled for July 6.

When the case was taken up on Tuesday, the PTI and PAT leaders were not present in the court. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Daniyal Aziz was present.
Later while talking to media, he hinted that they would soon file an application seeking the arrest of the suspects by Rangers.

Imran, Dr Qadri and several others had been booked for their alleged involvement in an attack on then-Senior Superintendent Police (SSP)- Operations of Islamabad Police Asmatullah Junejo during the 2014 sit-ins in the capital.

The SSP had been brutally beaten up by protesters allegedly affiliated with the PTI and PAT on Constitution Avenue on September 1, 2014, less than 24 hours into his first day on the job as operations SSP.

Subsequently, a case had been lodged by Sajjad Ahmed and included a number of sections including sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Ahmed claimed that dozens of PTI and PAT workers attacked SSP Junejo when he tried to stop them from entering the PM House. He said that several others were also injured by the protestors, who appeared to be trained for such attacks. He added that the protesters also snatched SSP’s wristwatch and his government-issued weapon.

The ATC had already issued perpetual arrest warrants for Imran and Dr Qadri among others.

The warrants were issued after police submitted a report stating that the suspects could not be arrested despite declaring both as proclaimed offenders in the case.

Previously, the ATC had allowed an application filed by the capital police which sought to initiate the process of declaring both accused as proclaimed offenders after the SHO of the Secretariat police station informed the court that the suspects could not be located for making arrests.

With the court’s permission, the police had initiated proceedings under Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code (proclaiming the accused as absconders) against Imran and Dr Qadri after they failed to appear before the court.

The case would now be taken up on July 6.

Source: The Express Tribune