Anti‑Terror Court Acquits Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sentences Four PTI Leaders to Ten Years

LAHORE: In a May‑9 riots case, an anti‑terrorism court on Saturday acquitted former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while sentencing senior PTI figures Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and former senator Ejaz Chaudhry to ten years each.

ATC‑I Judge Manzer Ali Gill delivered the verdict, which had been reserved since Thursday. The case, registered at Mughalpura Police Station, charged the leaders with attacking and burning police vehicles in the Mughalpura area during the 2023 unrest.

The hearing took place in a makeshift courtroom inside Kot Lakhpat Jail. In addition to Qureshi, the court cleared eleven party workers of the charges.

Overall, twenty‑two PTI leaders and workers were named in the case, while two suspects were declared proclaimed offenders after evading arrest.

Several other workers received ten‑year sentences.

The prosecution argued that the PTI leaders and co‑accused had organized the May 9 incidents and incited participants to riot and commit violence.

Thirty‑seven witnesses testified for the prosecution, which urged the court to convict the accused under the law.

The May 9, 2023 riots erupted after PTI supporters protested the arrest of party founder Imran Khan by the National Accountability Bureau from the Islamabad High Court in the Al‑Qadir Trust case.

Protesters staged violent demonstrations nationwide, vandalising military installations, state‑run buildings, and even targeting the Lahore corps commander’s residence. Thousands of demonstrators, including party leaders, were subsequently detained.

Verdicts have now been issued in seven other May 9 cases, with Rashid, Cheema, Rasheed and Chaudhry receiving sentences in several.

In December 2025, Judge Gill’s ATC acquitted Qureshi while sentencing the other four to ten years for an attack on the entrance gate of Government Officers’ Residence‑I, Club Chowk.

Additional rulings have addressed attacks on Shadman police station, violence at Sherpao Bridge, the burning of police vehicles near Rahat Bakery, and the torching of a Supreme Court judge’s squad vehicle near Jinnah House during the May 9 protests.

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