51 jailed for five years in May 9 riots case

GUJRANWALA: An anti-terrorism court has sentenced 51 PTI leaders to five years imprisonment each and fined them Rs10,000 in connection with the May 9 attacks.

The Cantt police had registered the case against the 51 PTI leaders for their alleged involvement in attacking sensitive installations, burning equipment, murdering a citizen and injuring police officers on May 9, 2023. Subsequently, the police arrested all the 51 accused and remanded them to jail. Following the commencement of the trial in jail, the hearing of the case continued for three months in the Central Jail Gujranwala.

However, the prosecution failed to establish the charge of murder against the arrested accused.

It is noteworthy that the court had also ordered the seizure of property belonging to several PTI leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Murad Saeed and Ali Amin Gandapur.

The ATC is set to issue a detailed verdict on a later date.

According to the police, none of the prominent PTI leaders or party office bearers are among the 51 convicts sentenced.

Initially, the police had listed 23 PTI leaders in the case, along with over 200 unidentified suspects.

The number of named individuals rose to over 400 after further investigations by the police. Throughout the trial, 199 witnesses provided testimonies in court.

Furthermore, the police had questioned detained Imran Khan and Qureshi in Adiala jail regarding the Gujranwala Cantt vandalism and arson case. However, the former prime minister did not cooperate with investigators, according to the police and instructed his lawyers to submit a reply.