• Judge upholds ATC jurisdiction; orders unfreezing of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, Namal varsity bank accounts
• Aleema’s personal assets remain frozen

RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday rejected Aleema Khan’s plea to remove terrorism charges by dismissing her challenge to the court’s jurisdiction in the Nov 26 protest case and ordered authorities to unfreeze the bank accounts of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and Namal University.

Judge Amjad Ali Shah rejected Ms Khan’s contention that the case related to the protest did not fall under the Anti-Terrorism Act and should not be tried in the ATC.

Ms Khan is accused in a case registered at Sadiqabad police station of relaying a message from her brother in Adiala jail, calling for nationwide protests.

Prosecutor Zaheer Shah alleged that the Faizabad protest turned violent, resulting in police officers getting injured and bullets striking a police van. He said these actions fit the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Defence counsel Faisal Malik argued no violence occurred, and the case does not belong to the ATC. He said Article 6 isn’t applicable and terror clauses were initially missing from the FIR.

The prosecutor strongly opposed the argument, pointing out that 12 co-accused had already confessed, pleaded guilty, and been convicted by the same court without objection from the defence, and accused the defence of employing delaying tactics.

The defence lawyer requested a postponement due to a lawyers’ strike. The prosecutor objected, saying dates were set per the defence counsel’s convenience.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing until Dec 4.

Meanwhile, the judge issued directives to unfreeze the bank accounts of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and Namal University.

Prosecutor Shah clarified that the prosecution had never sought, either verbally or in writing, the freezing of the trust or university accounts. He conceded they were “inadvertently frozen” following the issuance of an arrest warrant against Ms Khan.

He contended the confusion originated from an order sent to the State Bank referencing Ms Khan’s identity card number.

The judge ordered the restoration of the accounts for the two institutions while upholding the decision to freeze Ms Khan’s personal accounts.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2025