Daily Times

An Anti-Terrorism Court has discharged 102 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers from a case related to the November 26 protests, ordering the police not to re-arrest them. According to the media reports, the court released 57 of the detained PTI workers, who were promptly sent home from the Judicial Complex.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Company Police presented 95 detained suspects in two separate cases before Judge Tahir Abbas. The court discharged nine suspects and approved a two-day physical remand for three others.

In another case registered at Karachi Company Police Station, the court discharged eight more suspects and granted a three-day physical remand for 75 others, including four minors. These suspects were handed over to the police.

The defence lawyer, Ansar Kayani, informed the court that four of the remanded suspects were minors and requested their discharge. In response, the court instructed the police to provide immediate details regarding the minors.

Judge Abbas also ordered the police to immediately provide information about the minors among the 75 remanded suspects.

Additionally, the Kohsar Police Station presented 33 suspects before the court with 24 of them being discharged. The judge directed the police to remove the handcuffs of the discharged suspects in the courtroom and stated that they should not be re-arrested.

The court also granted physical remand for nine other suspects and instructed the police to refrain from re-arresting any of the discharged individuals. Kayani had raised concerns about the possibility of re-arrest, to which the judge sternly directed the police not to detain the discharged suspects again.

Separately, nine people, including former federal minister Shireen Mazari, have been formally charged in the case related to the May 9 GHQ attack.

In a separate development, senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was transferred from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. However, the indictment proceedings against him have been postponed.

Separately, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar has confirmed that the call for civil disobedience issued by the party’s founder has not been withdrawn.

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament House on Monday, Barrister Gohar stated that the call for civil disobedience was made by PTI’s founder and will remain in place. He stated that both the PTI parliamentary committee and the public fully support any call made by the party’s founder.

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had commented on the possibility of negotiations with PTI, stating that no message had been received from the party thus far. He advised PTI leadership that if they wished to engage in talks, they should soften their tone and approach. Without such an adjustment, he warned, negotiations would not be taken seriously.

Khawaja also remarked that within PTI, only Imran Khan held significant influence, and he suggested that the founder of PTI should initiate direct negotiations with the government.