Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has strongly reacted to the Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court’s verdict in the May 9 cases and announced that it will challenge it.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said that the sentences handed down to the party’s senior leadership and workers by the Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court in connection with the violent incidents of May 9 are a slap in the face of justice and fairness.
He said that these decisions have been given on the basis of political vendetta, ignoring all the legal principles and requirements of a fair trial, and it is extremely regrettable that transparency in these cases has been completely ignored and the accused were not even given a chance to defend themselves.
The PTI spokesperson said that trials were conducted in closed rooms until late at night without fulfilling the legal requirements, with the aim of achieving the desired results by shielding this action from the eyes of the public and the media. Under a well-thought-out plan, the principles of justice were openly insulted by accepting baseless and ridiculous evidence and testimonies without any legal justification.
He said that punishing the country’s most popular political leaders, who are completely peaceful and law-abiding Pakistanis, by charging them with terrorism is tantamount to making a mockery of both the constitution and justice. The unjust decisions pronounced one after another under a predetermined script show that the sole purpose of these decisions is to pin the PTI against the wall and intimidate its leadership and workers.
Sheikh Waqas Akram said that the controversial decisions pronounced by the courts in the same style prove that the country’s judicial system has completely collapsed and become worthless. We want to make it clear that these decisions cannot stop us from struggling for our democratic rights and the supremacy of the constitution and law.
He further said that PTI will file an appeal in the High Courts and the Supreme Court against all these unjust decisions and will fight for justice till the last breath. We demand that the spirit of law and justice be restored and all cases initiated on political grounds be dropped.
The PTI spokesperson said that we stand with our innocent leaders and workers and will take every legal and democratic path to get them justice. PTI completely rejects this unjust decision and reiterates its resolve to continue its legal, public and political fight at all levels in the struggle for justice.