LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Friday declared former federal minister Hammad Azhar and six other suspects proclaimed offenders (POs) in another case of May 9 riots.

ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill passed the order on a prosecution application and issued perpetual arrest warrants for seven absconding suspects.

The other suspects include Zubair Khan Niazi, Akbar Khan, Masood Ahmed Subhani, Arsalan bin Basharat, Farooq Anjum and Habib Ahmed.

The prosecution told the court that the suspects were granted multiple opportunities to appear but failed to do so.

It was further stated that the suspects went into hiding to avoid arrest and did not appear even after the issuance of arrest warrants.

Racecourse police station had registered a case related to the attack on GOR-gate near Club Chowk.

According to the prosecution, some of the suspects including Hammad Azhar have already been declared POs in several other cases of May 9 attacks.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2026