LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday issued robkar (release document) for Senator Ejaz Chaudhry in one of the cases against him related to May 9 riots.

ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill issued the robkar after the submission of surety bonds of Rs100,000 on behalf of the senator as directed by the Supreme Court in its bail granting order.

Sarwar Road police had registered the case on charges of burning police vehicles near Jinnah House, which also serves as residence of the corps commander.

Separately, the Lahore High Court sustained objections raised by the registrar office on the bail petitions of Senator Ejaz in four cases of May 9 violent protests.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard the office’s objections and dismissed the bail petitions as non-maintainable.

The office questioned the unavailability of certified copies of the bail orders granted to other co-accused in these cases and medical documents of the petitioner.

As many as 12 FIRs had been registered at different police stations of Lahore against the PTI leaders and workers on charges of attacking and vandalising public and private property besides army facilities including the residence of the corps commander during the May 9 protests.

Besides terrorism charge under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, various offences including waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan, abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier from his duty and rioting were added in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2025