LAHORE: A Lahore High Court two-judge bench on Wednesday issued notices to the prosecution on the appeals by 51 PTI workers challenging their conviction for attacking Gujranwala Cantonment during the May 9 riots.

In a first May 9 related conviction since the PTI mainly attacked army facilities across the country, an anti-terrorism court of Gujranwala had on March 31 handed down a five-year sentence to each activist.

The appellants through their lawyers argued that the trial court convicted them contrary to the facts.

They said the police failed to present any cogent evidence against them and did not conduct forensic tests on the materials presented in the court.

The appeals argued that the appellants were arrested from near the incident site and falsely implicated in the case, and that they were common citizens with no prior criminal records.

The appeals asked the LHC to set aside the trial court’s decision against the convicts.

The bench comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Nadeem issued notices to the prosecution for submission of reply to each appeal filed by the convicts.

The conviction was handed down under eight sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 included in the case lodged with Cantonment police station, Rahwali.

BAIL: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday allowed post-arrest bail to former principal secretary to the chief minister Muhammad Khan Bhatti in a corruption case related to development projects in Gujrat.

The bench comprising Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun granted the bail against surety bonds worth Rs10 million.

The NAB arrested Bhatti on charges of receiving kickbacks in contracts worth Rs1.25 billion for development projects in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, the constituencies of former chief minister Parvez Elahi and his family.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2024