- Prosecution raises objection regarding lawyers presenting arguments without power of attorney
RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi on Saturday delayed for a third time the indictment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and 124 others in the GHQ attack case.
The ATC Rawalpindi conducted proceedings of GHQ attack case related to the May 9 violence, wherein lawyers for Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Amjad Khan Niazi, Omar Tanveer Butt, Waqas Qayyum, Major Tahir Sadiq, Omar Ayub, and others completed their arguments before Judge Amjad Ali Shah.
During the proceedings, the prosecution raised an objection regarding lawyers presenting arguments without having any official power of attorney.
Public Prosecutor Zahid Shah argued that 102 lawyers for the accused had not yet filed their power of attorney documents.
He requested that the court appoint a state counsel to represent the case of the accused.
Additionally, lawyers representing Shireen Mazari and Shakeel Niazi completed their arguments, after which the prosecution presented their case.
The court directed government lawyers to present arguments regarding the acquittal petitions of Sheikh Rashid, Shireen Mazari, Amjad Niazi, and others today. Later, the accused present in court were allowed to leave after marking their attendance.
The court also directed that additional copies of the charge sheet be distributed to the absconding accused and adjourned the next hearing until November 25.
The government lawyers are expected to respond to the acquittal requests during the next hearing.
Before the hearing, the court had summoned Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Lahore, while also issued notice to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, for indictment.
The indictment of all 125 accused in the GHQ attack case, including PTI’s founder Imran Khan, was expected to take place during hearing, but the proceedings were adjourned once again due to various objections and arguments presented by the defence counsel.
PTI chairman Omar Ayub spoke to the media during his court appearance, stating that he had come for the indictment proceedings and had attended previous hearings as well.
He mentioned preparations were ongoing for the November 24 protest.
PTI’s lawyer, Muhammad Faisal Malik, also spoke to the media, stating that some new copies of documents were presented today, which had not been part of the original charge sheet.
He called the introduction of these documents into the proceedings a case of forgery.
Faisal Malik emphasised that every accused has the right to a fair trial, and that ‘documents that were not part of the charge sheet held no legal standing.’
He also pointed out that no CCTV footage had been provided to the defence team, and noted that Ali Amin Gandapur had requested an exemption from attendance ‘due to his government duties.’
Malik further requested that the court allow the defense team to meet with Imran Khan, as they had not been granted permission to do so previously.
He also mentioned concerns regarding a ‘fabricated narrative about a conspiracy,’ and highlighted that the evidence being presented had already been rejected by the Sargodha ATC.
