Imran Khan moves an ATC to remove terrorism charges in ECP protest case

ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 (SABAH): Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday moved an anti-terrorism court (ATC) to remove the terrorism provisions in the case of protests outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against him.

The petition filed by Imran Khan maintained that the terror charges were “ridiculous” and in contempt of the decision made by the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court. It further stated that the Anti-Terrorism Act was used to suppress political opponents for political interests and thus was “destructive”.

“These tactics also show the government’s lack of seriousness in the matter of terrorism,” it added.

An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had rejected Imran Khan’s bail in the case earlier after the former premier failed to appear before the judge.

The court had also rejected a request from Imran for exemption from appearance on medical grounds, granting him the “last opportunity” to appear before it on February 15.

Islamabad police had booked the PTI chief and scores of party workers on terrorism charges in October last year in response to protests after his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference.