LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid and other leaders on Tuesday challenged the inclusion of terrorism charge in the FIRs registered against them for alleged violence during the party’s May 25 long march.

Advocate Burhan Moazam Malik filed applications on behalf of the PTI leaders with the prosecution and the police.

The counsel pleaded that the section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 had been included in the FIRs with mala fide intention at the behest of the government. He said accusing political leaders of terrorism was in violation of the Constitution and the democratic norms.

The counsel asked the prosecution and the police to delete section 7 of ATA from the four FIRs registered in different police stations of Lahore.

An anti-terrorism court also extended the interim pre-arrest bail of 14 leaders of the PTI in the FIRs till Aug 5.

The leaders including Hammad Azhar, Andleeb Abbas, Zubair Khan Niazi, Imtiaz Mahmood Sheikh, Murad Raas, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Yasir Gillani and Malik Nadeem Abbas appeared before the court.

The court also directed them to join the police investigation.

Shahdara and Gulberg police had registered the FIR on multiple charges and also included the offence under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2022