An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Wednesday declared Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and former PTI MPA Umer Tanveer Butt absconders for consistently failing to appear for the hearings of their cases.

In 2022, the Islamabad police booked senior PTI leadership, including former prime minister Imran Khan, on terrorism charges following protests after his disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan in the Toshakhana reference.

While in September last year, the ATC had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Gandapur in a case registered in connection with violent protests outside the Federal Judicial Complex following the ouster of the PTI government in 2022.

The first information report, which was registered at Islamabad’s I-9 police station, named PTI leaders Amir Mehmood Kayani, Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi, Faisal Javed Khan, Raja Rashid Hafeez, Umer Tanveer Butt, Rashid Naseem Abbasi, Raja Majid as allegedly leading the large group, who were informed via loudspeaker to disperse immediately since the gathering was against the law.

ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Supra conducted the hearing and separated the case proceedings against the accused absconders from other accused persons.

The process of declaring PTI leader Amir Mehmood Kayani an absconder was also initiated by the court.

PTI leaders Faisal Javed Khan and Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi were present at the court. An application was filed by Javed to remove the terrorism provisions.

The court issued arrest warrants for the accused who were absent and adjourned the hearing of the case till January 15.

Earlier, the KP chief minister had been granted some relief with respect to his legal woes following the Rawalpindi ATC’s decision to suspend his arrest warrants — issued in December — in a case registered in Hassan Abdal Police Station, Geo News reported.