An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday started the process of declaring three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders as proclaimed offenders in a case of setting police vehicles on fire at Zaman Park outside the party chief residence. The court directed the prosecution to publish a proclamation in the newspapers for the appearance of Hammad Azhar, Zubair Khan Niazi and Khalid Gujjar.
ATC Judge Ijaz Ajmad Buttar initiated the process under Section 87 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on an application filed by the police. The investigation officer of Race Course Police Station had filed the application with a plea to start the process of declaring the PTI leaders as proclaimed offenders over not joining the investigation and judicial proceedings. He submitted that the accused had not surrendered to the court despite the issuance of their non-bailable arrest warrants.
The police had also requested to initiate proceedings of declaring Hassaan Niazi as proclaimed offender but due to his arrest in another case, the process was stopped. The Race Course police had registered a case against the PTI leaders and workers over setting police vehicles on fire at Zaman Park.
