ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has disqualified PTI’s Murad Saeed from his Senate seat following his conviction in a May 9 case, it emerged on Thursday.

The ECP’s notification for Saeed’s disqualification mentioned his sentencing by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on March 7. Saeed was named among 47 proclaimed offenders sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the May 9 case General Headquarters (GHQ) attack case by a Rawalpindi ATC.

In a notification dated March 25 and available with Dawn, the ECP cited the court’s March 7 order, stating: “Murad Saeed, notified as returned candidate on a general seat of Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province [..] has become disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and is hereby de-notified. Resultantly, his seat has become vacant.”

Article 63(1h) of the Constitution stipulates that a person shall be disqualified from Parliament if they have been convicted for any offence involving moral turpitude or sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years.

Saeed was elected as a senator in July 2025.

Two years prior to that, the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan on May 9, 2023, had triggered widespread riots across Pakistan, during which government buildings and military installations — including the army’s GHQ in Rawalpindi — were stormed and vandalised.

Following the unrest, authorities launched a crackdown against the PTI, registering dozens of terrorism cases against its leaders and supporters.

Among those convicted in the GHQ case alongside Saeed were Shahbaz Gill, Omar Ayub, Zartiaj Gul, Zulfi Bukhari, as well as former MNAs Kanwal Shauzab, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Muhammad Ahmed Chattha and Sheikh Rashid Shafique.

Several of those sentenced — including Ayub, Faraz, Gul, Nawaz and Chattha — have already been convicted in other May 9 cases, resulting in their disqualification from public office.

Other convicts included Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, Shoukat Ali Bhatti, Usman Saeed Basra, Ijaz Khan Jazi, Malik Abid Hussain, Zahid Abbas Choudhary, Faisal Mukhtar, and Muzamil Masood Bhatti.