LAHORE: The prosecution on Thursday told the Lahore High Court that incarcerated PTI founding chairman Imran Khan had instructed his party workers and leaders to attack military installations.

A prosecutor stated that the audio recording of the PTI founder had been forensically examined and was to be matched with his voice. However, he said, the accused refused to undergo the voice matching tests.

The prosecutor argued that the Jinnah House attack case was different from the others as the PTI founder was nominated in it. He said there was significant evidence against the accused, making him ineligible for the relief of bail.

The prosecutor stated that the attack on Askari Tower was also carried out on the instructions of the PTI founder. He said those who aided in the crime were equally liable.

He pointed out that the entire day on May 9, attacks were carried out on military installations and anti-army slogans were raised on social media platforms and websites run by the PTI workers.

“The PTI founder considers himself above the law,” he added.

The prosecutor presented the record of suspects involved in the Jinnah House attack.

According to the record, two people were killed and 53 police personnel were injured during the incident.

The prosecutor informed the court that the bail petitions of PTI leaders Omar Ayub and Asad Umar were still pending before the trial court. He said Senator Ejaz Chaudhry was not granted bail in the case. He further said that in the Jinnah House case, 24 accused had been convicted by the military courts.

In his arguments, the PTI founder’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar pointed out that the petitioner was implicated in these cases at a later stage. He said many interim bail petitions had been pending for the past one and a half years.A two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi adjourned further proceedings on the bail petitions of Imran Khan till June 23.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025