Mianwali police cordon off sessions court to re-arrest acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 13 : A contingent of Mianwali police besieged the sessions court premises since Wednesday morning to rearrest the 37 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers booked in May 9 cases, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
The ATC courts in Sargodha on Tuesday acquitted all 37 PTI workers in Sargodha, including Pakistan's former Member of National Assembly (MNA) Amjad Ali Khan. However, Mianwali City Police arrested them from the Sargodha central jail compound as soon as they came out of the prison and brought them to Mianwali under section 16 MPO (Maintenance of Public Order), according to Dawn report.
On Wednesday, police presented them before Duty Magistrate Mohammad Asif Mustafi. It was revealed that Wan-Bhachran police in Mianwali on Tuesday night registered another case against all of them under sections 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 324 (attempted murder) and 353 (assault) of the Pakistan Penal Code and 16 (Dissemination of rumours) of MPO (while they were in police custody).
The duty magistrate deleted sections 324 PPC and 16 MPO and all the remaining sections were bailable and released them on personal bonds. The court announced the release of all 37 workers and ordered the police to remove the handcuffs in the court. However, the police refused to listen to the court's decision, Dawn report.
The matter was then brought to the district and sessions judge, who directed police to release them or be ready to face legal action as police cannot arrest them from the court compound.
The police removed the handcuffs of the PTI workers. However, they stood outside the court to arrest the workers of the Imran Khan-founded party again till the filing of this report.
Speaking to Dawn, bar association president Fateh Khan Niazi termed police action unconstitutional and illegal. He said Amjad Ali Khan and some workers have been arrested under section 3 of MPO. However, many of them are still sitting on the court premises.
Earlier on May 30, a District and Sessions Court in Pakistan acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in two May 9 violence cases, ARY News reported.
The court acquitted the PTI founder in both cases on grounds of insufficient evidence. Imran Khan's counsel Mirza Asim Beg and Naeem Panjotha had completed their arguments on the bail pleas, as reported by ARY News.
According to the details, the court heard the bail pleas where Judicial Magistrate Omar Shahab announced the verdict on two May 9 cases registered at Shahzad Town Police Station.
The FIR was registered by an unauthorized person and the PTI founder was charged under Section 109, however, they did not present any evidence, the lawyer said. On May 9 last year, violent clashes erupted across Pakistan after PTI founder Imran Khan was arrested.
The protests were held in remote and major cities as the party workers were agitated due to their chairman's arrest, with Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad summoning the armed forces to ensure law and order, ARY News reported.
Moreover, army installations, including the Corps Commander's house in Lahore, had come under attack during the protests by PTI workers. Notably, the PTI founder was named as the main accused in all the May 9 riots cases.