Rawalpindi: The Anti-Terrorism Court Rawalpindi issued non-bailable arrest warrants for 25 accused including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Senator Shibli Faraz, Shehryar Afridi and Makhdoom Zain Qureshi in the General Headquarters (GHQ) attack case.
It should be noted that the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court had sent a letter to the Director General (DG) Immigration to prevent the accused from going abroad.
The departure of the accused named in the GHQ attack case abroad is subject to the court’s approval.
Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Amjad Ali Shah issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the accused. The accused include Kanwal Shozab, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, Azeemullah, Fahad Masood, Rashid Hafeez, Omar Tanveer Butt, Zohaib Ali Afridi, Taimur Masood and others.
The court ordered the City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi to arrest and produce all the accused on December 10.
On December 5, during the hearing of the GHQ attack case on May 9, 2023, in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, 100 accused, including PTI founder Imran Khan, were indicted.
After the indictment by the anti-terrorism court, the accused had refused the charges. The court had summoned the prosecution’s testimony on December 10.
Earlier, on November 18, the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court had imposed a ban on foreign travel for the accused named in the GHQ attack case, including Imran Khan, Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Shahbaz Gul, Murad Saeed, Hammad Azhar, Zulfi Bukhari and Sadaqat Abbasi. The ban on the accused’s travel abroad was imposed under Section 28A of the Anti-Terrorism Act. It may be noted that after the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Qadir Trust case on May 9, 2023, the PTI had staged nationwide protests, during which military, civil and private installations were set on fire, and government and private property was severely damaged, while at least 8 people were killed and 290 injured.
The protesters also stormed the residence of the Corps Commander in Lahore, also known as Jinnah House, and broke a gate of the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
After this, 1900 people involved in fighting, vandalism and arson with law enforcement agencies across the country were arrested, while cases were also registered against Imran Khan and his party workers.
