KP CM Gandapur faces arrest as Lahore ATC issues warrant in protest violence case

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for four senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, in connection with violent protests that erupted in Lahore on October 5, 2023, according to Aaj News.

The warrants were approved after the court found the accused had repeatedly failed to cooperate with investigators despite multiple summons.

Gandapur says IK willing to hold talks for ‘sake of Pakistan’

ATC Administrative Judge Manzoor Ali Gill granted the police’s request for the warrants, noting that PTI leaders Gandapur, Hammad Azhar, Saeed Sindhu, and Rana Shahbaz Ahmad had not engaged with the probe into alleged attacks on law enforcement during the demonstrations.

The case, registered at Mushtaq Gate police station, accuses the PTI leaders of instigating violence against police officers.

The court has directed authorities to arrest the wanted leaders and produce them before the bench to proceed with the case.

The warrants mark a fresh escalation in the legal challenges facing PTI, which has long decried what it calls politically motivated cases against its members.