An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi dismissed on Friday the PTI’s plea that contested the decision to make incarcerated party founder Imran Khan appear in trial proceedings of the General Headquarters (GHQ) attack case via video link.
Imran’s arrest on May 9, 2023 sparked violent protests across the country, during which state buildings and military installations, including the GHQ, were torched and vandalised.
He was expected to attend today’s hearing at the ATC via video link, but his counsel argued before Judge Amjad Ali Shah against this arrangement on the PTI’s application.
For his part, prosecutor Zaheer Shah contended that trial proceedings were transferred to the ATC from Adiala Jail — where Imran is imprisoned — on the Punjab government’s executive order. “The authority to review the executive order lies with the constitutional court,” he added.
He further argued that in 2016, the Code of Criminal Procedure was amended to allow suspects to appear in courts via video link.
Shah also cited Sections 15 and 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying that they authorised the courts to make “decisions regarding trials”. He added that the government was “not obliged” to give a reason for transferring the trial.
The prosecutor said submitting an application against Imran’s appearance via video link “is tantamount to creating hurdles in the trial and wasting time”. He said it was the defence lawyer’s right to approach the superior court against the notification for transferring trial proceedings from jail to the ATC, but the trial could not be stopped.
During his arguments, Imran’s lawyer, Faisal Malik, said, “We demand fair trial from the court.” He added that a fair trial was conditional upon the accused being physically present in the court.
He informed the ATC that they had received a copy of the provincial government’s notification yesterday, and they would approach the higher court against it.
The judge then asked Malik whether he wanted to present any more arguments on the matter.
At that, the defence counsel sought some time for consultation with his legal team.
The court then adjourned the hearing for half an hour.
When the hearing resumed, the testimony of two prosecution witnesses — Sub-Inspector Saleem Qureshi and Sub-Inspector Manzoor Shahzad — was recorded.
The witnesses presented 13 USB drives containing video clips to the court.
Forty videos of the PTI founder related to May 9 were downloaded, the witnesses said in their statements.
They also presented video clips of others, namely Khadim Khokhar, Shehryar Afridi, Umar Tanveer, Sadaqat Abbasi and Sikandar Mirza, along with clippings from various national newspapers, all of which were saved on the USB drives.
The witnesses said the “digital evidence” was obtained from CCTV cameras installed on Benazir Bhutto Road, Mall Road, Liaquat Bagh and ajoining areas.
Concluding the hearing, the court dismissed the PTI’s plea seeking Imran’s appearance during the proceedings in person and maintained that he would appear via video link, in line with the Punjab government’s notification.
The court summoned 10 more witnesses from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the Federal Investigation Agency, the PTI, the Press Information Department, Internal Security and the interior ministry to record their statements at the next hearing, slated for September 23.
Yesterday, a police spokesperson told Dawn that security will be beefed up around the Rawalpindi ATC on Friday during the hearing of the GHQ attack case.
Imran was indicted in the case on December 5 last year. The PTI founder, who has been incarcerated in Adiala Jail since August 2023, was arrested by the Rawalpindi police in the May 9 protest case in January 2024.