The Punjab government on Monday approached the Lahore High Court against the decision of the anti-terrorism court to grant bail to the accused of the May 9 tragedy. The prosecutor general filed the applications seeking bail cancellation of the May 9 accused on behalf of the Government of Punjab. A two-member bench headed by Justice Aliya Neelam will hear the Punjab government petitions. On September 23, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore granted post-arrest bail to nine accused out of 63 involved in the case of Jinnah House attack following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in May.

The PTI leaders who were granted bail by the ATC included Sanam Javed, Shah Bano, Ashmia Shujah, Rubina Jameel, Mubeen Qadri, Syed Faisal Akhtar, Ali Hassan, Afshan Tariq, and Muhammad Qasim. The prosecution had placed its arguments that the accused persons were fully involved in creating mayhem and there was substantial evidence of their involvement in the attack on Jinnah House. It requested the court to dismiss their bail pleas. However, the court accepted the arguments of the counsels for the accused who contended that they had been implicated in a forged case merely to disgrace them despite the fact that they had nothing to do with this case. The Sarwar Road police had lodged a case against the accused on the charge of creating a law and order situation and vandalizing the Jinnah House following the arrest of the PTI chairman.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)