Lahore:

A Pakistani court on Saturday convicted 51 supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan for five years of rigorous imprisonment on two counts for their involvement in attacking key military installations last year.

In May last year, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters had allegedly attacked several military installations, including the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the ISI building in Faisalabad, to vent their anger against the arrest of their party founder in a corruption case.

This is the first conviction in the cases registered against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders, workers and supporters in connection with the May 9 riots in the country, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The convicts include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Kaleemullah Khan.

The anti-terrorism court (ATC), Gujranwala handed down a year jail term to 51 supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on two counts for attacking the Gujranwala Cantonment (some 80 km from Lahore), law enforcement agencies personnel and torching police vehicles.

According to a court official, the court also imposed a fine of PKR 10,000 on each of them.

ATC Judge Natasha Naseem held the proceedings in the Central Jail, Gujranwala amid high security outside the jail and announced the verdict. The proceedings of the cases against the convict remained in-camera.

In the May 9 violence in Gujranwala, one Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf worker was killed and scores of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers and policemen were injured.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf claims that over 10,000 of its leaders and workers, and supporters of Imran Khan have been languishing in different jails of Punjab and KP provinces since May last and they are not provided a fair chance to defend themselves against phoney charges.

Imran Khan, himself, has been in jail since August last year and just before the February 8 polls, he was sentenced to a 31-year jail term in three different cases. In total, he is facing over 200 cases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Islamabad:

In an apparent bid to mend fences with the powerful military, Pakistan’s jailed former premier Imran Khan on Wednesday said that he supported the army’s demand to punish those involved in the violence on May 9 last year.

Hundreds of supporters of Imran Khan had attacked military installations on the day of violent protests against his arrest in a case of alleged corruption.

After the Corps Commanders Conference held in GHQ Rawalpindi on Tuesday, the Pakistan Army in a statement quoted the military top brass as saying that those responsible for attacks on security and civil institutions should be punished.

“The forum committed that the planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators and desecrators of martyrs’ monuments and attackers of military installations on 9 May, would certainly be brought to justice under the relevant provisions of the law and Constitution,” the army said.

Imran Khan, talking to journalists on the occasion of the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, said that he supported the statement issued by the army after the Corps Commander Conference.

“We support the declaration and want those involved in the violent incidents of May 9 to be severely punished,” he said.

He said that the persons involved in the incident should be identified through CCTV footage, adding that the people involved in the attack on Capitol Hill in America were also arrested with the help of CCTV videos.

Imran Khan also reportedly said that “no one in our party is against the army”. He asked how criticism of elections can be criticism of the army, and added that the narrative of May 9 failed on February 8 because people failed to believe that “we committed any treason”.

He expressed surprise as to why a judicial commission had not been formed yet on the May 9 violence and also stated that apparently, no one was interested in an independent inquiry into the tragic incidents.

In response to a question, Imran Khan said that democracy was negated by not giving reserved seats to his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party which was unconstitutional. He said that the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were also deprived of the mandate in 1971 due to which the country broke up.

Imran Khan alleged that the current election was the most rigged in the country’s history and blamed the caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan for rigging. He said even those who won were aware of rigging.

He also took a swipe at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif and accused them of taking a U-turn on their stand to give respect to vote. He said they were not giving respect to “boots”, a reference to the military.

He said that three parties including PNL-N, Pakistan Peoples Party and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement were the main beneficiaries of rigging and that was the reason he refused to make any alliance with them.

Imran Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power. Imran Khan has also been disqualified from holding any public office for 10 years. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Police fire tear gas to disperse supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan protesting against the arrest of their leader, in Peshawar, Pakistan, on May 9, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on October 23 declared the trial of civilians arrested following the violent protests on May 9 in military courts as “null and void” and ordered authorities to conduct their hearing in ordinary courts.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan in its short verdict ordered that 102 accused arrested under the Army Act be tried in the criminal court.

The court, which announced its verdict within hours after it was reserved during the day at the conclusion of the hearing, ruled that the trial of any civilian if held in military court has been declared “null and void”.

Also Read: Probe finds ex-Pak PM Imran Khan and top party leadership involved in orchestrating May 9 violence

The bench comprising Justices Ahsan, Muneeb Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Mazahir Naqvi, and Ayesha Malik announced its verdict on a dozen petitions challenging the trial of more than 100 civilians in military courts following the unprecedented violence in the country after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9.

The pleas were filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Supreme Court Bar Association, eminent lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, former Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and members of the civil society among others.

The bench heard the pleas against the announcement by the government that those involved in attacks on military installations on May 9 would be tried under military laws.

According to the Pakistani Army, 102 accused have been handed over to the military authorities for trial.

They have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the attacks on key military establishments, including the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Corps Commander’s House in Lahore, Pakistan Air Force Base Mianwali, and an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Faisalabad.

Also Read: Pakistan’s interim PM Kakar terms May 9 violence ‘attempted coup’

Attorney General Mansoor Awan at the outset of the hearing said that the military trials of civilians had formally commenced and all the requirements would be fulfilled in the process.

“All the requirements of a criminal case will be met in the trial under the Army Act,” he said.

The court, after hearing the arguments, had reserved its judgment earlier today.

The Supreme Court on October 20 announced that it will restart the hearing of the case after a gap of more than two months.

The last time a six-judge Supreme Court bench heard the case was on August 3 but a new bench was set up as the previous one was formed by the former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial. The previous bench had postponed further proceedings for an indefinite period.

Also Read: Pakistan military court should not begin trial of civilians involved in May 9 violence without informing Supreme Court, says top judge

The government during the hearing had assured the court that their trial had not started as yet.

The case is deemed an important one as it will settle the issue of the trial of civilians by the military courts.

Meanwhile, at least nine accused facing trials under the Army Act moved the apex court on October 22 for early conclusion of their cases by the military courts.

In their separate applications, the suspects pleaded that they have complete faith and confidence in the military authorities to provide justice to them and to other accused persons.