Several key figures of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, including imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, were given relief by courts at the weekend on protest-related cases, local media said on Sunday.
In the capital Islamabad, judicial magistrate acquitted PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, along with many others, in two cases filed on an April 26 last year protest.
The protest, which started from the office of PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen and moved towards Karachi Company, was allegedly organized in contravention of Section 144 and other legislation.
Judicial Magistrate Shahzad Ahmed, on hearing the arguments, acquitted Gohar Ali Khan, Ayub, Ali Bukhari, Shoaib Shaheen, Malik Rafique, Amir Dogar, Amir Mughal, and others cited in the case, Dawn reported.
In another development, a Lahore anti-terrorism court granted bail to former foreign minister and senior PTI personality Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
He had been taken into custody in connection with an attack on Shadman Police Station during the May 9, 2023 riots, which erupted after Imran Khan's theatrics-laden arrest by paramilitary Rangers from the Islamabad High Court campus.
The Lahore High Court judge, Manzer Ali Gill, released Qureshi on bail in the earlier case while adjourning a ruling until 26 June on another petition for bail. That petition is regarding charges of setting fire to police vehicles outside the Lahore Corps Commander's house.
Qureshi’s legal team argued that he was not even in Lahore on the day of the alleged offences and was instead in Karachi with his wife for medical treatment.
They maintained that the charges of conspiracy against him had not been proven and noted that several co-accused had already secured bail.
At the same time, ex-Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema also filed a bail plea in relation to the same Shadman Police Station attack case.
72-year-old Imran Khan, who was the leader of Pakistan until he was removed from office in 2022, has been in custody since August 2023.
He is facing a number of cases related to the violence which erupted last year after his arrest, which include allegations of inciting attacks on army and government installations.
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