An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Monday approved the transfer of eight accused involved in the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) during the May 9 riots to military courts. The transfer of the cases was approved by ATC Judge Hamid Hussain after Deputy Prosecutor General Malik Rafqat Ali moved a petition seeking the transfer of the suspects to military courts. Two cases were registered, separately, at the Civil Lines Police Station and R A Bazaar Police Station against protesters that had attacked the GHQ following the arrest of Khan from the Islamabad High Court. The accused booked in a first information report (FIR) registered at the Civil Lines Police Station are Ali Hussain, son of Khalilur Rehman; Lal Shah, son of Jahanzaib; Shehryar Zulfiqar, son of Zulfiqar Ahmed and Farhad Khan, son of Shahid Hussain Khan.
The request to transfer these men for trial at the military court was moved by commanding officer/military officer Farhan Nazir Qureshi.
The ones named in the FIR registered at the R A Bazar Police Station are Muhammad Idrees, son of Muhammad Sharif; Umar Farooq, son of Muhammad Sabir; Raja Muhammad Ehsan, son of Muhammad Maqsood; and Muhammad Abdullah, son of Kanwar Muhammad Ashraf Khan. All the accused “were sent to judicial lockup as they were found guilty of offences under sections 3,7 & 9 of Official Secrets Act, 1952 read with section 2(1)(d) of Pakistan Army Act, 1952”.
The ATC also directed the superintendent of Adyala Jail to hand over the custody of accused persons to the commanding officers. The Rawalpindi ATC approved the transfer of the accused after a similar decision was made by an ATC in Lahore last week.