A court in Pakistan on Thursday reserved the verdict on the police’s plea seeking a 30-day remand for Shah Mahmood Qureshi, vice chairman of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party in connection with the May 9 attack on military headquarters, according to media report. The development comes a day after the 67-year-old former foreign minister was manhandled by police officials as they re-arrested him outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a step termed “illegal” by him and his party ahead of general elections on February 8.
Thousands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters stormed military and government installations across the country following Khan’s arrest in an alleged corruption case on May 9 here this year. Since then, Khan and scores of PTI workers have faced multiple cases for attacking military installations and government buildings. On Thursday, appearing before Duty Magistrate Syed Jahangir Ali, Prosecution lawyer Akram Amin pleaded to the court for the PTI leader’s remand saying that a remand of up to 90 days can be given in a terrorism case.
The News International reported. The newspaper quoted the prosecutor as saying that they have taken reports from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and intelligence agencies on the May 9 violence.
Presenting the video statement and Qureshi’s tweets as evidence, the prosecution lawyer said Qureshi issued a protest call on his social media handle during the riots that broke out following the arrest of the PTI founder Khan in a corruption case earlier in May this year.
