President Alvi spared criminal proceedings due to immunity; Qureshi, Umar among ministers summoned for indictment
our correspondent
ISLAMABAD
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2014 Parliament House attack case.
However, it has summoned federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Mahmood and Asad Umar on November 21 for indictment among other provincial ministers.
Due to the presidential immunity granted to President Arif Alvi under Article 248 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against him during his term of office.
Judge Raja Jawad Abbas announced the reserved verdict on PM Imran’s acquittal plea in the Pakistan Television (PTV) and Parliament House attack case.
On September 1, 2014, hundreds of men, alleged protesters from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) camps, had allegedly ransacked the office of the PTV and parliament premises and brutally beaten up a senior police official, less than 24 hours into his first day on the job as SSP operations.
PM Imran, PAT Chief Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked over their alleged involvement in the attack during the 2014 sit-ins in the capital.
The SSP Asmatullah Junejo attack case was filed after the 2014 sit-ins in which ATC had acquitted the PTI chairperson in 2018. During previous proceedings, the prime minister’s counsel Abdullah Babar Awan filed written arguments seeking the PM’s acquittal.
The arguments maintained that there was no evidence against the prime minister’s involvement in the case, and no eyewitness had come forward regarding this.
In addition, the prosecution is not ready to take further legal action against the premier, the statement read.
Political leaders and over a hundred workers and supporters were also booked in the cases. The workers who were arrested were later released on bail.
