ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in connection with an alleged liquor and illegal weapons recovery case.
Judicial Magistrate Mubashir Hassan issued the warrant after no legal representative appeared on Gandapur’s behalf during the proceedings. The court directed authorities to arrest the chief minister and present him before the court on September 17.
The development follows a significant verdict a day earlier by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore in the May 9 riots case. The court acquitted PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi but handed down 10-year prison sentences to Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, and Umar Sarfraz Cheema over their involvement in the attack at Rahat Bakery Chowk, which included the burning of a Supreme Court judge’s car. The trial was conducted inside Kot Lakhpat Jail under ATC Judge Manzar Ali Gul.
PTI leader Khadija Shah was sentenced to five years in prison, while Rubina Jameel and Afshan Tariq were acquitted.
Last month, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified several PTI lawmakers, including opposition leaders Senator Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub Khan, following their convictions in the May 9 cases.
