ISLAMABAD: An interim charge-sheet was submitted on Tuesday by the Police Secretariat before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the 2014 sit-in violence cases.
Four cases— including an attack on the then-SSP Operations Asmatullah Junejo— were filed against leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).
PTI chief Imran Khan was named as the chief suspect in the charge sheet; a list of 14 witnesses and CCTV footage of the attack on the SSP has also been included in the charge-sheet.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on January 17, granted bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shireen Mazari, Arif Alvi and Asad Umar in cases of terrorism after the three leaders approached the court to get bail before arrest.
Mazari, Umar and Alvi are among at least 28 others that have been nominated in cases regarding attacks on Parliament House, Pakistan Television (PTV) building and former SSP Asmatullah Junejo during the anti-government protests in 2014.
They were ordered to pay Rs 100, 000 in surety bonds to secure their bail.
The leaders, however, requested the court to accept their bail sum in cash instead of bonds which was accepted by ATC judge Shahrukh Arjumand.
Earlier, the ATC had accepted Imran Khan’s bail petitions in all 2014 protest sit-in cases.
2014 PROTEST SIT-IN CASES:
In 2014, Khan and Tahirul Qadri staged a major rally in Islamabad against alleged rigging in the 2013 election and the Model Town tragedy, which had seen as many as 14 people killed and 100 others injured when police attacked Qadri’s residence during an ‘anti-encroachment’ operation.
Khan had threatened to shut down the entire country in what was perceived as a bid to topple the government. The protest had continued for a record 104 days.
On Sept 1, 2014, while the sit-in was still ongoing, SSP Junejo and five other police officers had been beaten up by protesters on Constitution Avenue as they stormed the PTV headquarters and the precincts of the parliament.
Hundreds of PTI and PAT supporters led by their leaders had briefly seized the state broadcaster on Sept 1, 2014, at a time when the country was under intense political crisis.
The protesters had disrupted the transmission of PTV news channel and PTV World for a short period of time. The buildings were later cleared by personnel of the Pakistan Army.
The cases were registered against Khan, Qadri, and others for torturing SSP Junejo and the other police officers. Both leaders were declared proclaimed offenders and arrest warrants were issued against them.
The ATC had declared Khan a proclaimed offender and issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest in November 2015.
In November 2017, the PTI chief had finally surrendered before the ATC in four cases regarding the 2014 sit-ins after the court ordered confiscation of his movable and immovable assets.
After the surrender, the court had withdrawn his arrest warrants and granted pre-arrest interim bail to the PTI chief.
