ATC acquits President Arif Alvi in Parliament attack case

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday acquitted senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership including President Arif Alvi in the 2014 Parliament House attack case, ARY News reported.

The ATC announced the verdict reserved on February 17.

Senior PTI leaders including Planning Minister Asad Umar, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood and Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousufzai have also been acquitted in the case.

President Arif Alvi who has been nominated in the 2014 Parliament House attack appeared before the ATC for proceedings despite having immunity under the Constitution of Pakistan.

Arif Alvi during his appearance had said that the Constitution of Pakistan gives him immunity, however, he wanted to waive it to bring all of them equal before the law.

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was also named in the case, was acquitted by the anti-terrorism court in October 2020.

Read More: PRESIDENT ALVI FILES ACQUITTAL PLEA IN PARLIAMENT ATTACK CASE

On Sept 1, 2014, hundreds of protesters belonging to the PTI and PAT stormed the Parliament House and PTV headquarters and forced its staff to take two of the state broadcaster’s flagship channels — PTV News and PTV World — off the air.

The protesters were also charged with attacking government properties including the Parliament House building.