LAHORE: On Wednesday, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), presided over by Justice Aalia Neelum, sought answers from the Punjab government and other relevant bodies concerning a plea submitted by Umer Sarfraz Cheema, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former governor of Punjab. The plea challenged Cheema’s imprisonment trial due to a first information report (FIR) that was filed against him following the May 9 riots.
In his appeal, Cheema asked the court to set aside the disputed order that started his trial while he was imprisoned and to hold the trial in public so that “equity and impartiality” could be guaranteed.
The petitioner claims he is entitled to the fundamental rights protected by Pakistan’s Constitution.
Articles 4, 9, 10, 10-A, 14, 19, and 25 of the Constitution were cited by the petitioner, who claimed that they guaranteed freedom, security of person, protections against arbitrary arrest and detention, a fair trial, due process, the inviolability of human dignity, freedom of speech, and equal protection under the law.
Cheema argued that even though Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in FIR 108/2023 was used by the police to file a challan to a special judge in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) against only five accused—including himself—the FIR implicates roughly 400 people in the reported incident.
The aforementioned report, which is filed under Section 173 of the CrPC, details the arrest of multiple suspects who were then held for identification parades, placed under physical remand, or engaged in investigative processes before being released or remanded to court custody on multiple occasions.
The petitioner contended that the unlawful acts and procedural errors clearly show “bad intentions.”
Despite their past arrest from May 2023, two more PTI leaders—one of whom was an accused—were later implicated in this case. Regarding their involvement, further challan reports under section 173 of CrPC were again filed with the adjudicating trial court.
After the accusations were filed on November 21, 2023, the court issued an order on October 4, 2023, directing the accused’s trial to take place inside the central jail.
The trial in relation to the previously mentioned FIR, which was lodged with the Sarwar Road police in the central jail of Lahore, was approved.
The petitioner requests that a review of the contested order’s text show that there is no mention of cabinet approval or the appropriate authority at the federal or provincial levels.
According to the former governor, the extra chief secretary authorized the order, which was given by a section officer. He continued by saying that the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997’s Sections 15(2) and 21(2)(b) provide only the government the power to issue such directives.
It is therefore possible that the order will be reversed, he begged.
Furthermore, because the order does not support the authority that issued it, the petitioner claimed that it was passed “arbitrarily and unlawfully,” without the required power.
In relation to the May 9 arson, disorder, and pandemonium, Cheema was taken into custody, and former prime minister Imran Khan was also taken into custody.
In response to the May 9 riots, the anti-terrorism court filed a case against PTI members, including Cheema and Dr. Yasmeen Rashid, and issued a seven-day physical remand of the parliamentarians on February 6.
Twenty individuals were prosecuted by military courts in relation to the May 9 occurrences, and earlier this month, on April 8, they were freed after Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir confirmed their verdicts and subsequently remitted their punishments.
