ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court issued on Wednesday non-bailable arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and 33 other people for storming the Parliament House and PTV buildings during the sit-ins by the two parties in the federal capital.

Secretariat police had registered separate FIRs against the PTI and PAT leadership for their followers turning violent on Aug 30 and breaking into the outer fence of the Parliament House and storming PTV building on Sept 1.

Non-bailable arrest warrants were also issued for Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Khan Tareen, Asad Umar, Shaukat Yousafzai, Shafqat Mehmood and Arif Alvi and PAT leaders Rahiq Abbasi, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali and others by ATC Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi.

The prosecutor said in the court that on Aug 30, PTI and PAT leaders delivered provocative speeches against the government and instigated the participants of sit-ins to take over the Prime Minister House.

He said that thousands of activists of the two parties started marching towards the Parliament House which resulted in a clash with law-enforcement personnel.

The prosecutor alleged that on Sept 1 the protesters took over the PTV building and shut off the transmission.

The police registered FIRs under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act for murder, attempt to murder, abetment, damaging government buildings and machinery, trespassing, causing injury to police personnel and obstructing them from performing their official duty.

The Secretariat police submitted two incomplete challans before the ATC in connection with the attacks on the Parliament House and the PTV building.

Police arrested 12 people for the Parliament House attack and seven for storming the PTV building. The accused were released on bail by the court.

Reacting to the ATC decision, PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari said: “The ATC is meant for the trial of terrorists, not politicians.”

She said that Imran Khan had committed nothing wrong and his party would not allow police to arrest him. The government was trying to intimidate the PTI leadership through such tactics, she added.

PAT leader Rahiq Abbasi said that attacks on the Parliament House and PTV building were part of a conspiracy hatched by the government against the sit-ins. “PAT has nothing to do with these attacks,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said the issuing of non-bailable warrants had proved that there was no deal between the PAT and the government. Had there been any deal the warrants would not have been issued, he added.

Bur Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that jails had been built for politicians. The current movement would enter a decisive phase on Nov 30 and the nation would see who would be behind bars and who would rule the country, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 13th , 2014