Lahore: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the May 9 Mughalpura police vehicles arson case, while sentencing several senior PTI leaders to 10 years’ imprisonment each.
ATC-I Judge Manzar Ali Gill announced the reserved verdict at the makeshift court inside Kot Lakhpat Jail, where the trial was conducted. Besides Qureshi, the court also acquitted 11 PTI workers in the case registered at Mughalpura Police Station.
Among those convicted were Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, Ejaz Chaudhry, and Umar Sarfraz Cheema, along with several other party workers, each receiving a 10-year prison sentence. Two accused, Arbaz Zaman and Ilahi Bakhsh, had earlier been declared proclaimed offenders after allegedly evading arrest.
The case relates to the violent protests that erupted across Pakistan on May 9, 2023, following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from the Islamabad High Court premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case. During the demonstrations, protesters allegedly torched police vehicles in Lahore’s Mughalpura area and vandalised public property, government buildings, and military installations.
According to the prosecution, senior PTI leaders orchestrated and incited party workers to engage in riots and acts of violence. The prosecution presented 37 witnesses during the trial, all of whom were cross-examined by the defence, and urged the court to convict the accused under anti-terrorism laws.
A challan had been submitted against 22 accused in the case, with the court pronouncing its verdict for 15 individuals. The judgment marks another significant development in the series of May 9-related trials.
So far, verdicts have been announced in several May 9 cases, with Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, and Ejaz Chaudhry receiving multiple 10-year sentences in separate cases involving attacks on the Government Officers’ Residence at Club Chowk, Shadman Police Station, Sherpao Bridge, police vehicles near Rahat Bakery, and the torching of a Supreme Court judge’s squad vehicle near Jinnah House.
The May 9 unrest led to a nationwide crackdown on PTI leaders and supporters after protests escalated into attacks on civil and military installations, including Lahore’s Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. Thousands of party workers and leaders were subsequently arrested, while several civilians were also tried in military courts.
The latest verdict comes just days after five incarcerated PTI leaders — Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhry, and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed — wrote to opposition leaders proposing a “Charter of Pakistan.” In the letter dated June 17, they called for dialogue with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and advocated constitutional supremacy, political stability, respect for the electoral mandate, and institutional balance, arguing that sustainable economic reforms require lasting political consensus.
