ISLAMABAD: After courts in Lahore and Sargodha sentenced PTI leaders in May 9 cases, the former ruling party denounced the verdicts, claiming the courts were functioning as “instruments of establishment”.

In a late-night press conference on Tuesday, PTI leaders said the punishments handed out to political leaders were an “assault on the judicial system”.

PTI leader Salman Akram Raja said the judicial system has been completely demolished.

“This is a joke. It i an attack on democracy. Today’s verdict is not a punishment for our [PTI] leaders, it’s a punishment for democracy.” He said this was not the issue of PTI alone. “It is an issue for every person. This is an issue of our future. If tomorrow, our rights are violated, which court would we go to?”

Awan links decisions to Aug 5 protest call; Waqqas says cases ‘based on hearsay’

Another PTI leader, Babar Awan, linked the decision to the protest movement announced by PTI founder Imran Khan for Aug 5. He said the Anti-Terrorism Act has been used as a weapon to “demolish the rule of law in Pakistan”.

Mr Awan claimed the punishment handed out to political leaders under terrorism charges “could jeopardise Pakis­tan’s GSP+ status and FATF compliance”.

PTI leader Aaliya Hamza said no video footage was made part of the evidence. “PTI leaders were sentenced only for standing up for the rule of law.”

Sheikh Waqqas Akram said his party will challenge these verdicts in the superior courts.

“They [the prosecution] have claimed conspiracy in courts, but the number of people involved in these so-called conspiracies varies in cases registered in different cities, he claimed, adding all cases were “based on hearsay”.

Separately, a statement issued by the PTI central media department on Tuesday called the verdicts “another stain on the face of justice”.

A PTI spokesperson said the verdicts were not only a “blatant and grave violation of principles of justice” but also an “attempt to crush a democratically elected political party”.

The branding of political leaders and workers as terrorists and their decade-long sentences reflected that “courts were now functioning as instruments of the establishment rather than as impartial institutions of justice”.

The spokesperson said no judicial principle allowed the nomination of an individual in dozens of cases across multiple cities. “The verdicts demonstrate courts have lost their capacity to deliver justice,” the spokesperson said, adding the judiciary has been used as a “tool to suppress, discredit, and eliminate PTI”.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025