ISLAMABAD: Six PTI leaders on Thursday moved a court seeking acquittal in the 2014 PTV-Parliament House attack case.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood, Planning Minister Asad Umar, MPA Aleem Khan and sidelined PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen filed the petitions.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Islamabad already acquitted Prime Minister Imran Khan in this case.

The applicants contended before the court that they were booked in this case under the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 for registering protest against the previous regime. Their applications were filed under section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that empowers the judge to acquit the accused during the trial proceeding.

According to the applicants, opposition parties are now holding similar anti-government protests but the government has not registered first FIRs against them.

The applications stated that workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) marched towards the parliament and the then government used force against the protesters.

ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan issued notice to the state over the applications and has sought a response until March 18.

On Aug 31, 2014 PTI and PAT workers marched towards Parliament House and Prime Minister House, clashing with police deployed on Constitution Avenue.

The protesters also attacked the premises of PTV and briefly took control of the building.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2021