ATC cancels arrest warrants of Shaukat Yousafzai in PTV attack case

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi cancelled the arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai in the PTV and parliament attack case on Wednesday, stopping the police to arrest him. The court also ordered Shaukat Yousafzai to again appear on March 28. Earlier, the ATC had arrest issued for his continuous absence from court. However, it had also accepted the pleas of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen, Asad Umar and Shafqat Mahmood for exemption from appearance. The court will hear the acquittal pleas of President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan on the next date of hearing on March 28.

Case History

In 2014, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chairman 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. Imran 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, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asmatullah Junejo had been beaten up by protesters on Constitution Avenue as they stormed the Pakistan Television (PTV) headquarters and the precincts of the Parliament. A case was registered against Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri and others for torturing SSP Junejo and five other police officers. On December 7, the PTI chief requested that the cases regarding the storming of the PTV offices during the 2014 sit-in be transferred from an ATC to a civil court since it did not qualify as a terrorism case.