ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday accepted the bail plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) president Pervez Elahi in the case related to the attack on the judicial complex in the federal capital.
ATC judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain approved the bail of the former Punjab Chief Minister on a surety bond of Rs 20,000.
The PTI president was arrested hours after he was released from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody on September 1, despite the fact that the Lahore High Court (LHC) had earlier that day ordered the authorities to was clearly prevented from arrest.
The September 1 order was a reiteration of a similar order passed by the High Court on July 13, 2023. Elahi has been repeatedly arrested and detained since the May 9 riots.
The PTI president is alleged to have sent rioters to Islamabad to vandalize the judicial complex and provided vehicles and sticks for it, the police claimed, adding that they had been asked about unknown criminals. Physical remand is being attempted for questioning and recovery of vehicles.
On the last hearing, Judge Zulqarnain rejected the request of the prosecution for a 10-day physical remand and sent the PTI leader to Adiala jail on a 14-day judicial remand.
During the hearing today, Elahi’s counsel Sardar Abdul Razak told the court that his client’s name was included in the First Information Report (FIR) six months after it was registered.
Vakil Elahi said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan and party leader Asad Umar among others got bail in the same case.
However, the prosecution opposed the bail application.
Lawyer Babar Awan told the court that Elahi’s name was not in the FIR, the police could not recover anything during the three-day physical remand.
Awan added that Pervaiz Elahi was arrested on suspicion.
Prosecutor Raja Naveed said that the provisions under which the FIR was filed are non-bailable.
Elahi was not named in the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) assault case, the judge said. He added that nothing was recovered during the physical remand.
After hearing the arguments, the ATC judge granted Elahi’s bail application.
Judicial complex riots
On March 18, PTI activists suddenly started pelting stones at the authorities on the premises of the Federal Judicial Complex when Khan appeared in various courts in connection with several cases filed against him.
The former prime minister came from the opposite side of the road in violation of Section 144 with a mob of people – carrying wooden sticks and stones.
As a result of the situation, 52 police and other auxiliary forces personnel were injured, PTI activists also damaged 12 Islamabad police vehicles, police said.
Agitated workers also damaged three vehicles of Punjab Police and Frontier Corps (FC). Moreover, the workers also set fire to four Federal Police vehicles which were completely burnt.
Subsequently, a case of vandalism was registered against the PTI workers at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station.
The Islamabad police had also registered an FIR against the PTI chief and other party leaders for allegedly attacking the police, burning vehicles and destroying property.
