ATC rejects Imran’s plea to remove terror clauses

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will have to face terrorism clauses as an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday rejected his appeal to remove them from all the four cases against him.

Imran Khan appeared before the ATC in the cases about allegedly attacking PTV and parliament, manhandling SSP Asmatullah Junejo and forcibly getting released workers from a police station. The court extended Imran Khan's bail till December 19 and directed him to appear before the court on the next hearing.

The PTI chairman had filed the petition against the inclusion of terror-related clauses in cases against him. “Terrorism-related clauses be scrapped and the case be sent to sessions judge as protesting for the sake of one's rights is not terrorism,” he prayed.

Khan's counsel Babar Awan argued that according to the police report, the workers of PTI and PAT, armed with batons, attacked the PTV and parliament. "Is attacking with batons terrorism?" he asked.

To this, police prosecutor replied that the 2014 sit-in was an attempt to dislodge an elected government. Imran Khan incited his party workers to kill police officers and attack parliament, he said adding that solid evidence is available.

Babar Awan said that intention is the first thing to be considered in such offences. “It will be interesting to see with what intention people had gathered in the capital during the 2014 protests,” he added. He said the police are yet to recover any weapons from the arrested unarmed sit-in protesters.

The prosecution in his reply said that the PTI’s long march was aimed at toppling the elected government by use of force. He further said that Imran Khan had a lead role in all the four cases. He is the main accused who gathered people in the capital and insisted they must attack the PM House, Presidency, Parliament and other important installations. He also threatened the IG police.

The prosecution said that Tahirul Qadri made hateful speeches, he also denounced Awan’s claim that the protesters were unarmed, saying they were not only armed, they even had a crane to remove road blockades. He said there was also a recorded call between Imran Khan and Arif Alvi discussing protesters' entry into the PTV building, suspending the transmission. On the leaders’ call, the people attacked the state installations and everything is on record.

According to the prosecutor, Khan’s supporters injured 26 police officials and went on to attack the PTV’s offices and these acts qualified as terrorism. “According to the Anti-Terrorism Act, these acts are non-bailable and punishable,” he said.

Awan said that no passerby or citizen was terrorised during the PTI’s long march and sit-in and that all the cases against Imran Khan are political persecutions, not prosecutions. “Thousands of people marched for their demands and when they pushed the gate of parliament, it fell,” he said while explaining the PTI’s stance. “The presidency’s gate was as weak as the president himself,” claimed Awan.

Speaking on the ATC hearing, Imran Khan said that the prosecutors booked him on terrorism charges to sway him from going after Nawaz Sharif. The PML-N wants to create an impression as if they are thieves, so is Imran Khan, he said.

Imran said that he had submitted a complete record of the money trail in the court whereas the former prime minister could only present a Qatari letter as proof of his source of income. “The prosecutors are behaving as personal employees of the Sharif family and not as government representatives,” he added.