Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Shehryar Afridi were among 14 PTI members and leaders indicted on Thursday in a case concerning the attack on the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi during violent protests, prompted by the arrest of the PTI founder in a corruption case, on May 9, 2023.
On Monday, former PTI leader Shireen Mazari was indicted along with eight others in the case. During that hearing, three of the accused — Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Colonel Ajmal Sabir Raja, and Sikandar Zeb — refused to sign the charge sheet, saying the evidence against them was insufficient.
They said their 265D application should be heard first, stating they would sign the charge sheet after the applications are ruled on.
Earlier this month, PTI founder and ex-premier Imran Khan was indicted in the same case by anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Amjad Ali Shah alongside several PTI leaders and supporters.
Imran, who has been incarcerated in Adiala Jail since August 2023, was arrested by the Rawalpindi police in the May 9 protest case in January this year. Other PTI leaders and members indicted on Thursday include Senator Shibli Faraz, Latasib Satti, Omar Tanveer Butt, Kanuzal Shuzaff, Taimur Masood, Saad Ali Khan, Sikandar Zeb, Zohaib Afridi, Fahad Masood and Raja Nasir Mahfouz.
A total of 113 PTI leaders and supporters have been indicted in this case so far.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Afridi and Shuzaff filed applications under Section 265-D of the Criminal Procedure Code, which deals with framing charges against an accused.
A hearing on these applications has been scheduled for Friday (tomorrow) at the Anti-Terrorism Court in Adiala Jail. Should Gandapur appear in court tomorrow, his arrest warrant will be cancelled, the judge said.
Gandapur appointed lawyer Ghulam Hasnain Sumbal as his pleader in tomorrow’s hearing and in 12 other cases related to May 9.
Following Thursday’s hearing, Qureshi spoke to reporters at Adiala Jail, stating that he was being “targeted for political revenge” in the case, reiterating his request to be “heard by the party”.
“I was in Karachi on May 9, not Rawalpindi,” Qureshi, who served as Imran’s foreign minister, told reporters. “I say take mine and the prosecutor’s oaths on May 9 under Section 16 of the ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act).”
Qureshi added that he was due to meet PTI leader Salman Akram Raja at Kot Lakhpat jail on Monday, however, Qureshi was in Rawalpindi and could not make the meeting.
“My point of view is that I should also be heard in the party,” Qureshi said. “There is a tradition of consultation in politics … I am the only member of the PTI who has served at the local, provincial and federal level.”
Speaking about the party’s civil disobedience campaign, the ex-foreign minister suggested to Imran that the movement be “postponed”.
“We formed a negotiation team at the government’s request, now they (the government) need to be serious,” he said. “This country needs political stability to ensure economic progress and security.
The government needs to start negotiating,“ Qureshi emphasised.
