ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (APP):A local court on Tuesday served notices to respondents for comments on acquittal pleas of Imran Khan and others in FIRs registered on violation of Section-144 and vandalizing the public property during PTI’s Long March.
Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja heard the acquittal pleas of the accused wherein PTI leaders including Asad Umar, Faisal Javed and Ali Nawaz Awan appeared before the court.
However, the accused Qasim Suri, Sheharyar Afridi and Shah Mehmood Qureshi couldn’t attend the proceedings.
The defence lawyer moved the requests to the court,seeking exemption from attendances to Imran Khan on medical grounds, saying that Sheharyar Afridi was out of country and Qasim Suri was in Quetta.
Lawyer Naeem Panjutha said that accused Sheikh Rasheed would reach the courtroom shortly. On this, the court said that whether the accused didn’t know the court timing. The lawyer said that Sheikh Rasheed was out of country and he was reaching directly from the airport.
After some interval, Sheikh Rasheed appeared before the court. The judge also enquired about the attendance of Murad Saeed and Ali Muhammad Khan. The lawyer informed the court that they were on the way to courtroom.
The judge asked defence lawyer to produce all accused in the case and again held an intermission. As the hearing resumed, Murad Saeed and Pervaiz Khattak also appeared before the court.
During hearing, the defence lawyer moved the acquittal pleas of Imran Khan, Shah Memood Qureshi, Qasim Suri, Asad Umar and Ali Nawaz Awan. The court served notices to respondents and sought arguments from the prosecutor on next hearing.
The court was also informed that the Islamabad High Court had excluded the names of Ali Amin Gandapur and Mehmood Khan from the FIR.
The further hearing of the case was then adjourned till February 4.
