RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) here on Wednesday rejected the incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan’s petition seeking to summon 21 court witnesses (CWS) in the November 26 case registered against her and others.
ATC Judge Amjad Ali Shah, while announcing its reserved verdict, dismissed Aleema Khan’s plea.
The court ruled that the defense had already been given sufficient opportunity to challenge the prosecution’s evidence during the trial. The order says that the defense conducted extensive cross-examination of 19 prosecution witnesses. The defense counsel was also allowed to carry out detailed questioning regarding video evidence and newspaper clippings presented during the proceedings, the order says.
The court observed that summoning additional court witnesses would effectively amount to repeating the same exercise that had already been undertaken during the trial. Therefore, it found no justification for calling the proposed witnesses and rejected the application.
Earlier, during the hearing, Aleema Khan, accompanied by her counsel, Faisal Malik, appeared before the court.
During the hearing, Special Prosecutor Zaheer Shah opposed the defense request, arguing that court witnesses are not parties to the case and that the defense is free to call witnesses in support of its own case.
The prosecutor further contended that the defense had so far failed to produce any material evidence or documents in support of its arguments. He maintained that the application to summon court witnesses was filed in bad faith and was an attempt to give the case a political dimension.
Zaheer Shah also argued that, under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the request to summon the proposed court witnesses was irrelevant and legally untenable.
He stated that unless the court found sufficient legal grounds, such witnesses could not be summoned. According to the prosecution, evidence in support of the charges had already been placed before the court.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its judgment on the application.
During the previous hearing, defence counsel Faisal Malik contended that the charges levelled in the case were baseless and that the proposed witnesses were essential for a fair trial.
The lawyer argued that under Section 540 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the court has the authority to summon any witness at any stage of the trial. He maintained that the witnesses named in the application were important for the proper adjudication of the case.
He further informed the court that the call for the November 24 protest had already been aired through the media before Aleema Khan’s media talks, and, therefore, her remarks could not be treated as criminal.
The list of 21 CWS includes the names of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar, provincial minister Azma Bukhari, and some journalists.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026