President Arif Alvi made his first appearance before an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Friday in the 2014 Pakistan Television (PTV) and Parliament House attack case.
Alvi, along with his lawyer Babar Awan, who was named in the case, reached the ATC and filed an application seeking refusal to avail the immunity of the President under Article 248 of the Constitution.
The hearing was conducted by ATC Judge Muhammad Ali Waraich.
The president informed the court that he had the privilege of obtaining an exemption under the laws of Pakistan, “However, I choose to withdraw it because I believe there should be no distinction between the two.”
He told the judge, “When I came to know that the court was about to pronounce its verdict in the case, I decided to appear, so it should not matter that I did not appear.”
He appealed to the court to expedite all the cases to ensure speedy delivery of justice.
The court had last month reserved its verdict in the matter, which will be announced on March 9.
Attack on Parliament House, PTV
In August 2014, PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek held a sit-in in Islamabad which continued till December that year. This dharna lasted for a record 104 days.
On 31 August 2014, activists of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) marched towards Parliament House and Prime Minister’s House and clash with police Protesters also stationed at Constitution Avenue Attack on PTV premises and took control of the building for some time.
Police invoked the Anti-Terrorism Act to incite violence during their 2014 sit-in against PTI chief Imran Khan and leaders including Arif Alvi, Asad Umar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shafqat Mehmood and Raja Khurram Nawaz.
According to the prosecution, three people were killed and 26 others were injured, while 60 persons were arrested. The prosecution had submitted 65 photographs, sticks, cutters and other items to the court as evidence to prove its case.
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