Court declares PTI founder guilty in May 9 cases, rejects bails

Lahore: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder responsible for the May 9 incidents and issued a written decision rejecting his bail in eight cases.

ATC Lahore Judge Manzar Ali Gul issued a six-page written decision.

The court decision said that the statements of witnesses to the conspiracy prepared in Zaman Park are on record. According to the prosecution, undercover police personnel pretending to be PTI workers overheard the conspiracy. The prosecution has other evidence, including audio of the PTI founder’s instructions to incite.

The court decision stated that the current case is not a trivial case of conspiracy or incitement to incite, not only the leaders but also their workers and supporters strictly followed the instructions of the PTI founder.

The written verdict said that the lawyer of the PTI founder objected that no date, time, or place was specified for the alleged conspiracy. According to the prosecution, this conspiracy was prepared on May 7 and May 9 in Zaman Park.

The verdict added that the PTI founder is accused of preparing a conspiracy regarding his possible arrest so that in case of arrest, other leaders would jam the state machinery.

The court wrote in the verdict that the lawyer for the PTI founder argued that his client was under arrest at the time of the incident, the arguments do not carry the weight that the founder of PTI was under arrest at the time of the incident. The prosecution's case is that the PTI founder prepared the conspiracy before the arrest.

The verdict further said that the lawyer for the PTI founder argued that he has been granted bail in various cases after arrest, and each case should be decided on its merits. The prosecution's case is that the founder of PTI directed attacks on military installations and prepared the conspiracy.

According to the written decision, the Lahore High Court (LHC) discussed the role of the PTI founder in the conspiracy in the decision to grant bail to Ijaz Chaudhry. The founder of PTI is no ordinary man, his instructions and statements have value in the eyes of his supporters, the other leadership of PTI did not even think of rejecting his instructions.

The court wrote in the decision that according to the police, many such incidents took place during the violent riots, including violence against police personnel. In all the incidents, military installations, government institutions, and police personnel were attacked. The founder of PTI's bail is rejected.