LAHORE; The Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has reserved verdicts in two separate May 9 arson cases involving senior PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Chaudhry, Omar Cheema, and Mian Mahmoodur Rashid, with decisions to be announced on August 11.
According to defence counsels Advocates Rana Mudassar and Rana Maroof, the concluded trials include the Rahat Bakery vehicle-burning case—featuring 25 accused, seven of them absconders—and the Shadman Nazar arson case, which involved 12 accused, five in custody and one deceased.
In a related development, PTI leader and former MNA Zartaj Gul on Saturday filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging the 10-year sentence handed down to her by an ATC in Faisalabad over her alleged role in the May 9, 2023 riots that erupted nationwide after the arrest of party founder Imran Khan. The verdict, delivered on July 31, also led to her disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The appeal—submitted through Barrister Ali Zafar and Muhammad Hussain—urges the LHC to overturn the conviction, arguing she was neither named in the FIR nor proven to have physically participated in the violence.
It claims her inclusion through a supplementary statement lacked legal justification and labels the trial “hasty and slipshod,” pointing out that 77 co-accused were acquitted on the same evidence, while prosecution witnesses gave inconsistent and unreliable testimony. The petition further alleges the investigation was biased and failed to establish any conspiracy, instigation, or abetment beyond reasonable doubt.
