By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: The provincial Punjab government notified on Friday that 11 criminal complaints filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan in connection with the deadly riots that erupted two years ago would be tried together before a single anti-terrorism court here, with Khan set to appear via video link from the high-security Adiala Jail where he has been held for more than two years.
The order, issued by the provincial Home Department, consolidates proceedings in all 11 First Information Reports, registered at police stations across Rawalpindi district — including RA Bazaar, Civil Lines, City, Waris Khan, New Town, Morgah, Sadiqabad, Saddar Wah, Taxila and Cantt. Officials said the arrangement was designed above all to safeguard Khan’s security and avert “any untoward incident” during the hearings.
The move clears a path for what could be the most significant set of trials yet tied to May 9, 2023, unrest, a spasm of violence that convulsed the country after Khan’s brief arrest on corruption charges and saw protesters overrun military headquarters in Rawalpindi and torch police stations and other public buildings nationwide. Dozens of cases were filed against leaders and supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, many under stringent anti-terrorism laws.
Khan, 73, was indicted in the flagship case involving the storming of the army’s General Headquarters on Dec. 5, 2024. He has been behind bars in Adiala since August 2023 and was hit with fresh arrests in additional May 9 cases the following January.
This is not the first time provincial authorities have sought to centralise and conduct the proceedings remotely. The new notification explicitly replaces earlier orders from June 21, 2023; Oct. 4, 2023; and Nov. 6, 2024, the last of which was rescinded after PTI lawyers challenged it in the Lahore High Court.
An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi had already rebuffed PTI efforts to force Khan’s physical presence in the GHQ case. Judge Amjad Ali Shah ruled the government’s video-link directive valid, ensuring the former leader’s virtual attendance from jail.
The Home Department’s directive has been sent to officials, including the advocate general and prosecutor general of Punjab, the registrar of the Lahore High Court, the judge presiding over the Rawalpindi court and the inspector general of prisons. It directs Adiala’s superintendent to guarantee Khan’s “safe and secure participation” over video.
For PTI lawyers, the persistent push for remote hearings smacks of politics, eroding the foundations of open justice. Provincial officials, however, insist the measures are purely precautionary, born of the very threats that once fueled the riots. By bundling the Rawalpindi cases, which encompass allegations of assaults on military sites, police outposts and public property — before one judge, the government hopes to accelerate a process that has dragged amid legal wrangling and boycotts.
Khan, once a cricket star turned populist firebrand, commands unwavering loyalty from tens of millions who see his prosecutions as a vendetta by a military-backed coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. His party has parlayed that grievance into street protests and electoral defiance, even as he fights more than 200 cases from his cell.
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