ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday sent 17 PTI activists arrested during the D-Chowk protests on Nov 24 to 26 to jail after they completed an 11-day physical remand.

During the hearing, Prosecutor Atif Ranjha requested an additional 22 days physical remand, arguing that further recoveries and investigations were pending.

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He stated that some evidence had already been collected during the previous remand period. However, the defence counsel strongly opposed the request, contending that an extension in physical remand was unnecessary.

After considering the arguments from both sides, ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra rejected the prosecution’s request for further physical remand and ordered that the accused be sent to jail.

The same court also granted bail to six women arrested in connection with the D-Chowk protest while discharging one of the accused, Arzoo, from the case.

During the hearing, counsel for the petitioners argued that the women were domestic workers and had no involvement in the protest.

He claimed that the police arrested them arbitrarily to inflate the number of detentions. He also noted that two of the women were apprehended solely due to their Afghan nationality, further questioning the basis of the arrests.

The court ordered the release of the women on bail bonds of Rs50,000 each. Among those granted bail, two were linked to a case registered at the Secretariat police, while the other four were detained by Kohsar police.

The court found no evidence against Arzoo and discharged her from the case entirely.

On Thursday, ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra granted a five-day physical remand for 146 individuals arrested in connection with the D-Chowk protest.

On Friday, Judge Sipra extended the physical remand of 19 PTI supporters for three days upon the completion of their eight-day physical remand. The political activists were arrested in a case registered at the Secretariat Police Station over violence during the protest.

It may be noted that after the PTI marched on Islamabad to demand the release of its founder Imran Khan, the police rounded up more than 1400 party supporters in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as it registered over a dozen cases against the party leaders and workers. The arbitrary manner of arrests by the police irked the Islamabad High Court on Friday, which expressed displeasure over the arrest of a vegetable seller in connection with PTI’s protest.

The suspect, Sameer Ahmed, was allegedly arrested at a checkpoint in the F-10 area and later included in the list of “unknown persons” arrested for their participation in PTI’s Nov 24 protest.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2024