ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Monday acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and other leaders of the party in two long march vandalism cases.
Besides the former prime minister, the other PTI leaders who were acquitted included Zartaj Gul, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Javed, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Qasim Suri, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Shireen Mazari, Saifullah Niazi, Asad Umar, and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad.
The cases against Khan and other politicians were registered in the Kohsar and Karachi Company police stations for violation of Section 144.The court’s verdict came during the hearing of acquittal pleas filed by the PTI founder andother politicos.
The verdict on the acquittal of Khan, Qureshi, Rashid, Awan, Suri and Nawaz was issued by Judicial Magistrate Shahzad Khan for the case registered at Kohsar police station.
Judicial Magistrate Mureed Abbas announced the reserved decision on the acquittal plea of Khan, Qureshi, Mazari, Niazi, Umar, Gul, Awan, Javed and Nawaz against the case filed in the Karachi Company police station. The court had earlier reserved its verdict in the long march vandalism case.
Speaking with journalists in the federal capital, Khan’s lawyer Naeem Panjotha said the cases against PTI founder were based on political vengeance.“No evidence of vandalism found against PTI founder during the long march,” he said, adding the Islamabad administration did not issue any notification to enforce Section 144 in the capital city. Various cases of the same nature had been registered against the PTI founder and he had been acquitted in several cases pertaining to the long march, the counsel added.
He noted that other political leaders were also acquitted in the vandalism cases. The development comes days after a district and sessions court, on May 15, acquitted Khan in two cases pertaining to May 9 vandalism. Islamabad High Court, on May 16, had also approved PTI founder’s bail petition in the £190 million settlement reference.