LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday declared several leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) proclaimed offenders (POs) in three cases related to May 9 riots.

Judge Abher Gul Khan passed the orders on three separate applications filed by the investigating officers (IOs) of the cases.

The IOs said despite hectic efforts the suspects could not be arrested as they went into hiding for fear of arrest. They said non-bailable arrest warrants had also been issued against the suspects but they failed to surrender to the law.

The police asked the court to declare the suspects POs.

Those declared POs in two cases of torching police vehicles near Jinnah House and Sher Pao Bridge are Hammad Azhar, Murad Saeed, Farrukh Habib, Azam Swati, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hamid Raza, Karamat Khokhar, Khalid Gujjar, Sajjad Ahmad and Zubair Khan Niazi.

In the third case which pertains to burning the PML-N office in Model Town, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife Musarrat Cheema, Zubair Khan Niazi, Ghulam Abbas, Farhat Abbas and Hamid Raza had been declared POs.

The judge also directed the IOs to submit details regarding moveable and immovable assets of the suspects so that proceedings for the attachment of their properties under section 88 of CrPC could be started.

Many of these PTI leaders have already been declared POs in other cases related to May 9 protests, including attack on the Jinnah House and Askari Tower.

RAMAZAN SUGAR MILLS: An accountability court on Tuesday issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on an application of former chief minister Hamza Shehbaz, seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance in the trial proceedings of Ramzan Sugar Mills reference.

Hamza appeared before the court with his lawyer to file the application.

The court directed a NAB prosecutor to submit a reply by Jan 12.

The NAB had reopened the reference that was earlier closed under the defunct amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. Later, the Supreme Court had struck down the amendments.

In this reference, the NAB had arrested Shehbaz Sharif on Oct 5, 2018 and the Lahore High Court had released him on bail on Feb 14, 2019.

The NAB alleged that Shehbaz, being the chief minister, and his son Hamza, in abetment and connivance caused a loss of Rs213 million to the national exchequer by committing the offence of misuse of authority.

It said Shehbaz had issued a directive for the construction of a drain in Chiniot district primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by his sons – Hamza and Suleman.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023