LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday allowed Sarwar Road police to shift three suspects, including two lawyers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), to jail for their identification parade in a May 9-related case.

The police had arrested Advocate Afzaal Azeem Pahat, his son Hamza Pahat (also a lawyer) and brother Khalid Pahat in the case pertaining to attack on police and torching their vehicles near the Sherpao Bridge in Cantonment area during the May 9 riots.

The police presented them before the court and sought permission to shift the suspects to jail for their identification parade.

Rana Intezar Hussain, the president of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), argued before the court that the police arrested the PTI lawyers and their brother to teach them a lesson for holding a corner meeting of the party in Kahna area last month.

He asked the court to discharge the case against the lawyer and his family members.

However, Judge Abher Gul Khan allowed the police to shift the suspects to jail for the identification parade.

Reacting to the arrest of the lawyers, the LBA also convened an emergency meeting of its general house, condemning the ‘fabricated’ cases against them and called it police oppression.

As a protest, the house resolved that no police official or prison van would be allowed to enter the premises of any court in Lahore on Monday.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023