Imran moves court to drop 'ridiculous' terror charges in ECP protest case

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Friday moved an anti-terrorism court (ATC) to remove the terrorism provisions in the case of protests outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against him. The petition filed by Imran Khan maintained that the terror charges were “ridiculous” and in contempt of the decision made by the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court. It further stated that the Anti-Terrorism Act was used to suppress political opponents for political interests and thus was “destructive”. “These tactics also show the government's lack of seriousness in the matter of terrorism,” it added. Earlier, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had rejected Imran Khan's bail in the case after the former premier failed to appear before the judge. The court had also rejected a request from Imran for exemption from appearance on medical grounds, granting him the "last opportunity" to appear before it on February 15. Read Imran loses protective bail over no-show Islamabad police had booked the PTI chief and scores of party workers on terrorism charges in October last year in response to protests after his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference. The first information report (FIR) registered against the party members claimed the protestors had pelted stones at the police and FC officials, leading to many injuries. It further stated that workers of the former ruling party tried ramming police personnel with vehicles, set public property ablaze in Faizabad, and damaged government property. The former premier was on interim bail in the case and the court had provided him with the opportunity to appear on Wednesday. The court released a short order: “It has transpired from the available record that multifarious opportunities have been provided to the present applicant [Imran] to put up an appearance before the court but to no avail.”

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