ATC orders release of PTI MNAs held after Sept 8 rally

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad on Monday ordered immediate release of all arrested members of the National Assembly (MNAs) belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The PTI lawmakers, who were arrested from the Parliament House in the wake of the party’s September 8 political gathering in the federal capital, were charged in various cases registered at the Sangjani police station.

ATC judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the lawmakers’ pleas, granting them post-arrest bail in the cases against surety bonds worth Rs30,000 each.During the hearing of the case, prosecutor Raja Naveed told the court that Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) MNA Muhammad Ahmed Chattha was also nominated in the case. He requested the court not to approve the bails as the minimum sentence for provisions imposed in the cases was three years.

“Has anything been recovered from Sher Afzal Marwat, Ahmed Chattha and other MNAs?” the judge questioned the prosecutor, to which he responded in negative.On September 8 and 9, the police arrested a number of PTI lawmakers following the party’s power show in Islamabad, who included Marwat, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Zain Qureshi, Chattha, Malik AamirDogar, Yousaf Khan and Naeem Ali Shah.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and lawmaker Marwat were arrested from outside the Parliament House for allegedly violating the newly enacted public gathering law during the party’s rally on September 8.

Marwat had resisted the arrest and asked the police to show arrest warrants, while Gohar was later released. At least 10 PTI lawmakers, who were arrested from the premises of the Parliament House, were brought to the lower house on September 12 after their production orders were issued by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.At least 28 local leaders of the party, including Seemabia Tahir and Raja Basharat, were also nominated in the cases.