LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Friday acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a case linked to the May 9 riots, while sentencing four other PTI leaders to 10 years in prison each.
The court handed down the sentences to Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid and Ejaz Chaudhry for their involvement in violence that erupted on May 9, 2023, following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan. The protests that day turned violent, with party supporters vandalising and setting fire to military installations and government properties across Punjab.
The verdict was announced by ATC Judge Manzer Ali Gill inside Kot Lakhpat Jail after the conclusion of the trial in FIR No. 852/2023. The case related to an attack on the entrance gate of the Government Officers’ Residence-I at Club Chowk. It was registered by the Racecourse police, who had named 25 suspects, including PTI leaders and workers, in the charge sheet.
While Qureshi was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence, the court found the four other leaders guilty and ordered them to serve a decade long sentence each. All four have already been in jail after being convicted in other May 9-related cases by courts in Punjab.
This is the fifth case in which Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid and Ejaz Chaudhry have been convicted. In contrast, Shah Mahmood Qureshi has now been acquitted in multiple cases connected to the same unrest.
Earlier convictions stemmed from incidents including the attack on the Shadman police station, violence at Sherpao Bridge, the burning of police vehicles near Rahat Bakery, and the torching of a Supreme Court judge’s security squad vehicle near Jinnah House.
The May 9 events remain a defining moment in Pakistan’s recent political turmoil, with courts continuing to deliver verdicts that shape the legal fate of several PTI leaders and workers involved in the protests.
