PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court on Monday confirmed pre-arrested bail of several Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders, including former members of the national and provincial assemblies, in a case registered over May 9 violent protests in the province.

During the hearing by judge Jahanzeb Khan Shinwari, counsel for the petitioners pointed out flaws in the case against his clients and insisted that except for an FIR, there was no evidence of the involvement of the petitioners in May 9 riots and that the cases against petitioners were political motivated ones.

They added that the petitioners - the former lawmakers - couldn’t violate the law and therefore, they requested the court to confirm their pre-arrest bail.

The state counsel objected to the request insisting that the accused were absconders, so the court should not confirm their pre-arrested bail.

ATC Judge Jahanzeb Khan Shinwari later confirmed the pre-arrested bail of the accused, including former MNA Arbab Sher Ali, former MPAs Kamran Bangash, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Asif Khan and Fazle Ilahi and PTI additional general secretary for Peshawar region Irfan Saleem, in an FIR registered at the Khan Raziq police station.

The court also ordered the petitioners to join the police’s investigation in other cases registered against them.

On May 12, the provincial capital’s police nominated 29 PTI activists, including former members of the National and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, on the charges of murder, murder attempt and terrorism.

An FIR registered at the Khan Raziq Shaheed police station said that 29 people, including former assembly members Kamran Bangash, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Arbab Sher Ali, Arif Yusuf, Ishtiaq Urmar, Arbab Jahandad, Fazal Ilahi and Malik Wajid, were charged under sections 302 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, and other laws.

Another FIR registered at the Chamkani police station with the police nominating PTI’s former lawmakers Ishtiaq Urmar, Arbab Jahandad, Fazal Ilahi, Asif and Malik Wajid as well as 19 other members of the local PTI leadership over their alleged involvement in the blocking of roads and damage to public property.

“We’re conducting raids to arrest all the accused, especially the lawmakers nominated in FIRs, but the arrests have yet not been made as they weren’t found present at their homes,” a police official told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023