GUJRAT: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Saturday sentenced 51 PTI workers to five years each in prison for attacking the Gujranwala Cantonment amid protests following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on May 9, last year.

The conviction was handed down under eight sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Anti-Terrorism Act included in the case lodged with the Cantonment police station, Rahwali.

In his short order, ATC judge Natasha Naseem Sipra also fined the convicts Rs10,000 each and one-year imprisonment on five other charges. However, the imprisonment in both convictions will start simultaneously.

At least 70 more suspects, including PTI founder Imran Khan, senior party leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former Pun­jab chief minister Chaudhary Parvez Elahi, are also nominated as accused in the same case. Most of them had earlier been declared absconders.

ATC sentences the activists to five years in prison for attacking Gujranwala Cantonment

Some of the local PTI leaders from Gujranwala, who were nominated in the case, have recently been elected as lawmakers, including Mohammad Ahmed Chattha.

The convicted PTI workers had been in local jail since their arrest last year. The challan of remaining suspects is yet to be sent to the court by police.

The trial was conducted in the Gujranwala central jail and the verdict was also announced there.

A local PTI leader told Dawn that the Insaf Lawyers Forum had extended legal assistance to some of the convicts, while the others fought the case on their own.

Nearly 200 witnesses recorded testimonies in the court. The Gujranwala police also questioned Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Adiala jail, but they did not answer any question and asked their lawyers to submit replies, according to Geo News.

The May 9 riots were a series of violent clashes that erupted across the country following the arrest of Imran Khan from the Islamabad High Court premises as demonstrations by PTI turned into violent riots. During the protests, mobs targeted civil and military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander House (Jinnah House) and the GHQ.

The Rahwali Cantt police had registe­r­­­­­ed the case against the suspects (now con­­victs) involved in an attack on the Guj­ranwala Cantonment in which one per­­son was killed and dozens of people were injured, according to a Dawn.com report.

The FIR was registered under the antiterrorism law as well as on the charges of attempted murder.

The charges

As per a warrant of commitment on sentence of the convicts, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the rioters were charged according to the following terms: imprisonment for five years and a Rs10,000 fine; impri­sonment for five years and a Rs10,000 fine; imprisonment for five years and a Rs10,000 fine; imprisonment for one year under Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) Section 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon); imprisonment for one year under PPC Section 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions); imprisonment for one year under PPC Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty); imprisonment for one year under PPC Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty); imprisonment for one year under PPC Section 427 (mischief causing damage amounting to Rs50 or higher); and imprisonment for one year under PPC Section 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel).

The warrant said the sentences would run concurrently and the convicts would be entitled to the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, which says that the period of detention has to be considered in the prison term when a person is convicted by a trial court.

The application of the above section means that the detention periods served so far will also be counted as a part of the prison terms announced and thus subtracted from the highest term of five years.

The warrant authorised the superintendent of Central Jail Gujranwala to receive the convicts in his custody and execute the sentences in accordance with the law.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2024