ISLAMABAD: PTI leaders who were recently sentenced by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) will remain ‘underground’ until they are able to obtain bails or stay orders from the courts, it emerged on Sunday.
The party leaders, a majority of whom are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), have decided to attend parliamentary sessions after getting relief from courts.
The Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly, Omar Ayub Khan, told Dawn that all legal options would be used to get relief and till that time he and other leaders including Shibli Faraz, Hamid Raza and Zartaj Gul Wazir would not attend sessions of the National Assembly and Senate.
“I have asked my lawyer Babar Awan to complete documentation and file a case. Other leaders will also do the same,” he said.
When asked in which courts, application for bails and stay orders would be filed, Omar Ayub said that applications would be filed in different courts. However, he made it clear that they would not come in public before getting bails.
Last week, Omar Ayub refused to meet the CJP on Supreme Court premises, or in Islamabad, citing the possibility of his arrest due to warrants issued against him. Replying to a question, he said that MNA Abdul Lateef has already sought a stay order and the same will be done by other leaders.
The Peshawar High Court last week stopped the Election Commission of Pakistan from proceeding further on de-notifying a PTI MNA from Chitral Abdul Lateef and declaring his seat vacant.
A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal issued notices to respondents including ECP and the National Assembly speaker seeking their response to a petition filed by MNA Abdul Lateef challenging the order of the ECP of disqualifying him and subsequent notification of declaring his seat vacant by de-notifying him as an MNA on July 29, 2025. The bench fixed Aug 20 for next hearing of the petition.
Mr Ayub Khan and other PTI leaders, who have been sentenced 10 years of imprisonment for their involvement in the May 9 riots, have been hoping to get a similar relief.
On May 9, 2023, PTI supporters, protesting against the arrest of party founder Imran Khan, had staged violent protests throughout the country, vandalising military installations and state-owned buildings.
Following the riots, thousands of protesters, including PTI leaders, were arrested.
Out of 185 PTI workers, 108 have been sentenced by the court. PTI’s MPA Junaid Afzal Sahi was sentenced to three years in prison. Meanwhile, MPA Khayal Ahmad Kastro, MNA Zain Qureshi, and former party leader Fawad Chaudhry were acquitted in the cases.
Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2025
