Govt Considering Challenging President Alvi, Other PTI Leaders’ Acquittal In Parliament Attack Case

Govt Considering Challenging President Alvi, Other PTI Leaders’ Acquittal In Parliament Attack Case
The federal government is considering challenging an anti-terrorism court’s acquittal of President Dr Arif Alvi and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders in the Parliament House attack case before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

In March, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had acquitted Alvi, several other PTI leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Asad Umar, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, and estranged members Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan of their involvement in the attack during the party’s protests against the PML-N government in 2014.

Former prime minister Imran Khan was acquitted in the case in October, 2020.

According to the prosecution, three people were killed and 26 injured during the attack.

According to a report, the government has started drafting an appeal against the ATC order and it will move an application for the condonation of delay in filing the appeal.

Lawyers say that if the court is convinced by the government’s contentions, then the matter could be remanded for re-trial.

The report quoted a senior government official as saying that the ATC had given the acquittal order on the basis of a statement given by the prosecutor, who had said that there was no direct evidence against the persons accused in the case.