LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted pre-arrest bail to two PML-N parliamentarians, post-arrest bail to 32 party activists, and denied the concession to five others involved in a case of staging an anti-judiciary rally in Kasur.

PML-N MNA Wasim Akhtar Sheikh and MPA Naeem Safdar appeared before the court along with their counsel, while the case record against 32 other suspects was presented by the prosecution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo told the court that the suspects had held a protest rally at Kashmir Chowk, Kasur, against the judiciary and attempted to incite public against the state institution.

He said the suspects did not deserve the concession of bail.

32 activists get post-arrest bail

On the other side, the suspects’ lawyers argued that the case against their clients was a conspiracy. They said the Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was added to the case with mala fide intention. They asked the court to order the police to delete the terrorism provision from the case.

The ATC-III judge, Javed Iqbal Warraich, allowed bail to the two parliamentarians and 32 others who were in jail on judicial remand. The court dismissed the bail petitions of five other suspects.

In April a video went viral on social media showing the suspects taking out a rally in Kasur and hurling abuses at the judges of the superior judiciary. The local police registered a case against 80 persons, out of which six were identified as members of the ruling party PML-N.

The police booked them under Sections 166, 506, 341, 228 109, 147 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and later inserted section 7 of the ATA in the FIR.

Separately, the Lahore High Court also initiated contempt of court proceedings against the six public office holders belonging to the PML-N and also indicted them under the contempt charge.

However, all the suspects including the two parliamentarians, threw themselves at the mercy of the court seeking an unconditional apology.

The court had asked them to file their apology in writing first and then the court would decide whether to accept it or not.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018