The Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday to the Anti -Terrorist Courts (ATC) who heard cases of suspects allegedly involved in the disturbances of May 9 of last year that decided on them within four months.
The ATCs throughout the country have been listening to cases about the alleged role of civilians in attacks on the army facilities during the disturbances that followed the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, 2023. Some courts have issued their judgments, while the verdicts against several individuals and leaders of PTI are still pending, and some are granted the bond.
A three -members bank, led by the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and included Judges Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Shakeel Ahmad, today resumed a set of 20 requests presented by the Punjab government that seeks the cancellation of the bonds of the suspects.
The Bank also ordered the ATCs to present a progress report to the main judges of their respective courts higher every 15 days.
Zulfiqar Naqvi appeared as a state lawyer on behalf of the Punjab government.
Sumair Khosa was present as a lawyer for fashion designer Khadija Shah, who is released on bail in one case and had been acquitted in another. Faisal Chaudhry also appeared as a suspect’s lawyer.
Among the cancellation supplications of the bond was also one related to a case against the chief organizer of Punjab de PTI, Aliya Hamza Malik, according to a list of causes.
The judges had also assumed the case yesterday, where the Punjab government lawyer received more time to reconsider the pleas.
This hearing is produced in the midst of another case listening to the Constitutional Bank of the SC that refers to military trials and the subsequent judgment of civilians for their role in attacks on the army facilities during the disturbances of May 9.
Audience
At the beginning of the hearing, the Punjab government lawyer told the court that the trials would be completed within three months.
However, CJP Aphridi said the courts would receive four months to conclude the cases.
In this, Khadija’s lawyer said: “How will the trial be completed in four months? There are numerous cases against my client.”
Chaudhry also raised concerns during the period of time, stating: “There are 35 cases against him. The judgments were not completed in such a short time.”
Responding to Judge Aphridi asking him about what suspect he was representing, Chaudhry replied that he was the lawyer of former PTI Fawad Chaudhry leader, who said he was a co-forospechoso in one case.
By pointing out that a case related to Fawad did not appear for the audience today, the CJP declared: “We will not listen to it since its case is not fixed for the audience.” Chaudhry then asked the court to also fix the case of his client for the hearing.
At one point during the hearing, the superior judge recalled that he was the president of the Superior Court of Peshawar when the case of the lynching of the Mashal Khan university students decided “within three months.”
Here, Khosa requested the bank that Khadija’s fundamental rights are protected, to which CJP Afridi replied: “Have confidence in the ATC. Let the cases continue.”
The bank observed that the lawyer feared that the right of his client was affected “based on a certain impression.”
During the hearing, the President of the Court indicated that the court was informed that the ATCs and the higher courts “did not review the evidence correctly.” In this, the additional prosecutor General Wajid Gillani declared that until now testimonies of 28 witnesses had been recorded.
Subsequently, the Bank ruled that the ATC must reserve the verdicts in four months and submit a progress report to the main judges every 15 days.
The court stressed that it was clearly written in the law that ATCs should hold trial hearings daily. In addition, he ordered: “The rights of suspects should not be affected due to other cases before the Court of First Instance.”
Punjab incurred loss of value of RS197M during the disturbances of May 9
The Punjab government also said that the province incurred losses worth RS197 million due to vandalism and violence on May 9, 2023.
According to a report presented to the Constitutional Bank by the Provincial Government, 24,595 suspects involved in the incident were still released, while 9,319 cases were recorded in 38 districts in Punjab.
The report added that 11,367 suspects were arrested.
He said that a total of 152 police and five civilians were injured, while four civilians also died in the incident.
