Nov 26 protest: ATC denies bail to 86 PTI workers

ISLAMABAD. The court of Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Abul Hasanat Zulqarnain rejected the bail applications of 86 PTI activists arrested in the case registered on November 26 protest.

It granted bail to 6 PTI activists in the illegal arms case. During the hearing on the bail applications on Sunday, Sardar Muhammad Bushik Advocate, Amna Ali Advocate, Zahid Bashir Dar, Ansar Kayani, Murtaza Tori, and Fatehullah Barki appeared on behalf of PTI activists. Ansar Kayani Advocate said all of the accused were nominated after the identity parade and not initially.

Further, the identity parade was held after five months. He said the entire identity parade procedure was done in English. Could the police official or the accused speak or understand English?

There has been no recovery from the accused despite that they were released from Rawalpindi after 5-6 months. However, they were rearrested in other cases in Islamabad. Pleading for their release on bail, the counsel said the statement given in police custody is of no importance and there is neither any recovery from them nor any evidence against them.

Advocate Sardar Shubhish Khan said that the police did not arrest even a single accused from the spot, but were arrested from homes. The bail denied by the court was approved by the Islamabad High Court.

Prosecutor Raja Naveed said that the bail is still being heard on the application for post-arrest bail. There is evidence that links the accused to violent incidents besides they were identified by the witnesses. Requesting to reject the bail application of the accused, he said it cannot be said that the accused were not nominated earlier and FIRs were registered against them. Initially, the court reserved the decision but later while pronouncing the reserved decision, it ordered to dismiss the post-arrest bail applications of 86 workers in the case registered for protest. However, in the illegal arms case, it approved the bail of 6 accused against bonds worth Rs 5,000 each. Cases are registered against PTI workers in Kohsar and Tarnol police stations.