LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench has suspended sentence of 93 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) convicted for attacking police in Sargodha following the 2014 Model Town incident and released them on bail.

The bench, headed by Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem, allowed bail to the petitioners, subject to surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Sargodha had handed down five to seven years imprisonment to the PAT workers.

A counsel argued before the high court that the petitioners were coming to Lahore to attend a Quran Khwani held for the victims of the Model Town incident when police had arrested them from Bhera interchange on the motorway. He said the case against the petitioners was a result of political victimisation.

Meanwhile, the PAT leadership, in a statement, congratulated its workers on their release and praised them for, what it claimed, the struggle against oppression and political victimisation. In May, the high court had released 13 other workers of the PAT on bail.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2020