An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday indicted 21 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, along with party workers, in a container torching case.
ATC Judge Arshad Javed conducted the trial proceedings at Kot Lakhpat Jail, where incarcerated PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, and Senator Ijaz Chaudhry were produced. PTI leader Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan and other accused individuals out on bail also appeared before the court and marked their attendance. The court formally charged the PTI leaders and workers during the proceedings. However, all the accused denied the charges and expressed their intention to contest them.
Subsequently, the court summoned prosecution witnesses to present their testimony at the next hearing, scheduled for February 17.
The Naseerabad police had registered a case against PTI leaders and workers over the torching of a container at Kalma Chowk during the May 9 riots. Several PTI leaders, including Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hammad Azhar, Hamid Raza Gillani, Murad Saeed, Wasiq Qayyum, and Zubair Niazi, have already been declared proclaimed offenders in the case.
