Attack on Parliament, PTV case: ATC acquits Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2014 Parliament House attack case.

The court decided to indict others named in the case, including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, and Planning Minister Asad Umar, as well as prominent party leader Aleem Khan and a former close aide of PM Imran, Jahangir Khan Tareen on November 21.

Under the Article 248 of the Constitution, President Arif Alvi has immunity and no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against him during his term of office. Judge Raja Jawad Abbas announced the reserved verdict on Prime Minister Imran’s acquittal plea in the Parliament House attack case. On September 1, 2014, hundreds of men, alleged protesters from the PTI and the PAT camps, had allegedly ransacked the office of the PTV and parliament house premises and brutally beaten up a senior police official, less than 24 hours into his first day on the job as SSP Operations.

During sit-ins in 2014 in the federal capital, Prime Minister Imran Khan, PAT chief Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked over their alleged involvement in the attack. SSP Asmatullah Junejo attack case was filed after the 2014 sit-ins in which ATC had acquitted the PTI chairperson in 2018. During previous proceedings, the prime minister’s counsel Abdullah Babar Awan filed written arguments seeking the PM’s acquittal. The arguments maintained that there was no evidence against the prime minister’s involvement in the case, and no eyewitness had come forward regarding this. In addition, the prosecution is not ready to take further legal action against the premier, the statement read. Political leaders and over a hundred workers and supporters were also booked in the cases. The workers who were arrested were later released on bail.