Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is being moved from the Adiala jail to Lahore and is scheduled to appear before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in relation to the charges involving the May 9 riots.
According to jail insiders, Qureshi was taken under strict security in the early hours of the morning to Lahore, where he was scheduled to appear in court before the anti-terrorism court housed in Kot Lakhpat Jail.
He is accused of many May 9 riot-related charges in Lahore.
Attorney Taimur Malik said that the PTI leader will appear in court today and that the ATC Lahore judges will hear the cases from Kot Lakhpat Jail on May 9.
On May 26, Qureshi—who was already detained in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison on many cases—was found to be connected to eight more cases pertaining to the events of May 9.
In addition to those cases, on January 30 Qureshi was sentenced to ten years in jail in the cipher case by a special court created under the Official Secrets Act.
Following the arrest of the ousted prime minister Imran Khan in connection with the £190 million settlement case, riots broke out nearly all throughout the nation on May 9. A large number of PTI workers including top executives, were imprisoned last year due to their alleged involvement in acts of violence and attacks against military sites.
The Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi were among the civic and military institutions that those responsible targeted during the demonstrations. The protestors were to be tried under the Army Act after the military dubbed May 9th “Black Day”.
