Lahore:An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday cancelled the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zain Qureshi over his failure to appear in the Jinnah House attack case.
The court, however, extended the interim bail of PTI Lahore General Secretary Owais Younas and other accused until December 18. The court also dismissed pre-arrest bail applications of two accused after being withdrawn.
ATC Judge Manzer Ali Gill conducted the hearing on pre-arrest bail applications of accused in the Jinnah House attack case, during which several accused, including Kamran Waheed, Muhammad Altaf, Usman Qadri, Riaz Ahmad, Shahid Khan, Syed Dabeerul Hassan, Basharat Ali, Shayan Saeed, and others, appeared and marked their attendance. However, Zain Qureshi and Owais Younas did not appear before the court.
Qureshi’s counsel submitted an application seeking a one-day exemption for his client, claiming that Qureshi was attending proceedings in other cases at ATC Faisalabad.
The court asked the counsel to prov
ide evidence supporting the claim, but no proof was presented. Consequently, the court dismissed the exemption plea and canceled Zain Qureshi’s interim bail.
In contrast, the court accepted an exemption application for Owais Younas after his counsel informed the court that Younas was in judicial custody in connection with other cases.
During the proceedings, a report from the joint investigation team was submitted, which declared accused Muhammad Adeel and Sabir Shah innocent. Following the report, the counsel for the two accused sought permission to withdraw their pre-arrest bail applications, which the court allowed.
The court also extended the interim bail of other accused individuals and directed them to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
The case pertains to the May 9 riots, during which Jinnah House, the residence of the Corps Commander Lahore, was attacked. The Sarwar Road police had registered the case against PTI leaders and workers on charges of incitement and vandalism.