ATC revokes Yousafzai’s arrest warrant in parliament attack case

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday revoked non-bailable arrest warrant issued for Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa’s Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai.

The arrest warrants were issued for 26 PTI workers including the KP’s minister over non-appearance in the court, in a case related to attack over PTV and Parliament in 2014.

The minister showed up before the ATC today and requested it to repeal his arrest warrants.

The warrant were suspended by the court after Yousafzai assured it of his appearance on the hearing now on wards.

Yesterday, the court had ordered the police to arrest and produce Yousafzai before it.

During the hearing the ATC had granted one day exemption from the court appearance to Federal Ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Shafqat Mehmood.

However, the pleas seeking acquittal of President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Jehangir Tareen could not be taken up.

Background of the case

In 2014, PTI chief Imran Khan and PAT leader Tahirul Qadri took to streets in the federal capital against alleged rigging in 2013 general elections and Model Town incident respectively. In this regard, police had booked Khan and Dr Qadri along with their supporters in a number of cases during the 2014 sit-in calling for the resignation of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

In the case, 70 people were booked after a mob of protesters belonging to the PTI and PAT stormed PTV headquarters and forced its staff to take two of the state broadcaster’s flagship channels — PTV News and PTV World — off the air on Sept 1, 2014.