D-Chowk protest case: ATC rejects 10 pleas, grants bail to 150 PTI workers

ISLAMABAD: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Abul Hasanat Zulqarnain Thursday granted bail to over 150 PTI workers, and rejected applications of 10, who had been arrested in cases registered regarding the D-Chowk protest.

The bail applications of more than 20 workers were withdrawn.

During the proceedings on Wednesday, PTI lawyer Ansar Kiani and others, along with prosecutor Raja Zahid Asif, appeared in the court. Ansar Kiani, while giving arguments, said that in the text of a case, it was said that a bullet was fired, which hit a police officer on chest. The judge asked who fired the bullet and who was hit. The lawyer said it was not mentioned who had fired the bullet and who was hit.

The text of the case also said that the protesters snatched millions of rupees from a police officer. He wondered how come a police officer coming to duty would brought millions of rupees with him.

He stated that text of all cases was almost the same and no accused was named. In each case, the political leadership was named and no worker was named.

The plaintiff in the case are not common people but SHOs, who are well aware of the text of the cases. He requested that the bails of innocent workers be granted.

Prosecutor Chaudhry Zahid Asif, while giving arguments, said all the accused were arrested after an identification parade; evidence was recovered from all the accused, which was on record. Testimonies were given, policemen were injured, and there was a Supreme Court precedent on the matter, he added. He stated that the application for bail was not admissible. He requested the court that the political party should be banned. “Since 2014, it has been attacking Islamabad by taking the law into its hands,” he alleged.

The PTI lawyers raised an objection and said the prosecutor should not engage in political discussions, as evidence related to the case was available.

The prosecutor said most of the accused arrested in the cases belong to Afghanistan and were residing in Pakistan illegally. “These are Afghans who are terrorists, and they have disturbed peace in Pakistan,” he alleged.

During the hearing, there was a strong exchange of words between the PTI lawyers and the prosecutor in the courtroom. The prosecutor said “when lawyers for the accused extended arguments, I remained silent. Now they should not interfere in my arguments.”