An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday granted Islamabad police eight-day physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Sher Afzal Marwat, Aamir Dogar, Zain Qureshi, Naseem Shah, Ahmed Chattha, and others arrested over alleged violations to the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024 during the party’s rally at Sangjani.
At the same time, the court rejected the physical remand request for Shoaib Shaheen, placing him under judicial custody, while police released PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan after dropping the charges against him.
On Monday night, police had arrested several PTI MNAs, including the party chairman, as they were departing Parliament House after a session of the Lower House. The PTI has slammed the move as “un-democratic,” accusing police of arresting their MNAs from without Parliament in violation of rules.
Presenting the accused before court, the prosecutor had sought a 15-day physical remand, alleging they had used police equipment to attack police. Further, he alleged, several police kits remained in custody of the PTI and had yet to be recovered. According to the prosecutor, Shaheen was not directly involved but had issued “instructions” that merited his physical remand.
The court was further informed that 60-70 individuals had been arrested.
In his appearance before the court, Marwat questioned the legitimacy of the case, claiming police had no witnesses to corroborate their allegations. To the court observing he was accused of wielding a Kalashnikov, Marwat claimed this was false as he actually had a pistol.