LAHORE: Authorities have decided to speed up the execution of court warrants already issued against several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders following the arrest of party leader Hammad Azhar, sources said, as an anti-terrorism court convicted two party workers over the November 2024 protest and the Lahore High Court dismissed a petition seeking the recovery of PTI social media activist Falak Javed.
According to sources, PTI leaders facing court warrants in several cases, including those registered over the November 2024 D-Chowk protest, could be arrested.
Sources said warrants already issued against Junaid Akbar and Abdul Ghani in cases related to the D-Chowk protest would be executed, while court warrants issued against Shibli Faraz, Murad Saeed and Hammad Azhar in the Judicial Complex cases would also be acted upon.
Zartaj Gul, Amir Masood Mughal, Dr Amjad Ali and Mena Khan Afridi are also among the leaders wanted in Islamabad cases, the sources added. Legal proceedings against Ali Amin Gandapur and Umar Tanveer Butt in the Faizabad protest case are also to be moved forward.
The sources stressed that any arrests would be based on FIRs already registered and warrants previously issued by courts. The Islamabad police have been directed to execute, in accordance with the law, the court warrants of PTI leaders wanted in cases registered at various police stations.
Hammad Azhar was recently handed a 21-day physical remand in the Jinnah House attack case.
Separately, an anti-terrorism court sentenced two men in two cases registered over PTI’s November 26, 2024 protest. The convicts, Saeed-ul-Haq and Umarzada, submitted confessional statements to the court.
Admitting their guilt, the two told the court they had joined the protest at the instigation of the PTI leadership. They pleaded for leniency, saying they were poor labourers.
The court sentenced each of them to four months in prison and fined each Rs15,000. The cases against them involved arson, siege, resisting police and vandalism. Anti-terrorism court judge Amjad Ali Shah announced the verdict.
The November 2024 protest saw PTI supporters march on Islamabad to demand the release of party founder Imran Khan; it ended on November 26 after a security operation around D-Chowk, and hundreds of cases were registered in its aftermath. Courts handling such cases have faced a rising caseload, as reflected in the recent establishment of a fourth anti-terrorism court in Lahore.
In Lahore, the high court dismissed as unnecessary a petition seeking the recovery of PTI social media activist Falak Javed. Justice Shahbaz Rizvi heard the petition filed by her father, Javed Iqbal, in which the home secretary, the Inspector General of Punjab Police and others were named as respondents.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that Falak Javed had been released from Kot Lakhpat Jail but re-arrested immediately afterwards. He said a report submitted to the high court had stated that no case was registered against her, and termed the post-release arrest illegal.
The counsel told the court that Falak Javed had been granted bail in the fake video case, but on the same day Race Course police arrested her in a May 9 case and obtained her physical remand. He said she had been arrested through a supplementary statement and that remand had been obtained without producing her before the anti-terrorism court.
Assistant Advocate General Punjab Farrukh Khan Lodhi informed the court that an anti-terrorism court had granted Falak Javed’s physical remand. The petitioner’s counsel said she was due to be produced in court again the same day.
The court asked how the petition was maintainable and directed the counsel to approach the anti-terrorism court. Justice Rizvi made clear that the high court was not deciding the remand matter and advised the counsel to challenge the remand before the relevant court. The petition had sought an order for her recovery and release.
Falak Javed has faced several proceedings in recent weeks, including the extension of her judicial remand in the Zaman Park case and the fake video case involving Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari.
PTI has consistently described the cases registered against its leaders and workers after the May 9, 2023 unrest and the November 2024 protest as politically motivated, a charge the government rejects, maintaining that the law is taking its course.
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