ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad acquitted President Dr Arif Alvi and top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the 2014 mob storming of Parliament House.
Announcing the decision, Judge Mohammad Ali Warraich acquitted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and disgruntled members Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan, among others.
It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was also nominated in the case, was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in October 2020.
The court reserved its verdict in February after as many as 11 suspects, including the ministers and Tareen, moved the applications seeking their acquittal in the case under Section 265-K of the criminal procedure code (CrPC).
The prosecution had not objected to the requests for acquittal.
On September 1, 2014, hundreds of protesters belonging to the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of Tahir ul-Qadri stormed the Parliament House and PTV headquarters and forced its staff to take two of the state broadcaster’s flagship channels — PTV News and PTV World — off the air.
The protesters were also charged with attacking government properties including the Parliament House building.
Another case was related to the attack on then-Islamabad SSP (Operations) Asmatullah Junejo during the protest sit-in in Islamabad seeking the resignation of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
