An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on a bustling Tuesday delivered a significant order, commanding the release of the former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in relation to two high-profile cases linked to the tumultuous May 9 arson and rioting incidents.
The mandate, meticulously issued by ATC Judge Manzar Ali Gill, instructed the jail’s superintendent to liberate Qureshi with immediate effect, contingent on the stipulation that he is not implicated in any other cases.
This pivotal decision emerged just one day following the court’s stern verdict sentencing other notable PTI figures—Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, and Ejaz Chaudhry—to a decade of imprisonment, paired with hefty fines of Rs. 600,000 each, and the severe directive to seize their properties, all entangled with the same legal matters.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi was completely acquitted in both criminal cases, which were concerned with the dangerous arson at the Shadman police station and the vehement rioting in Lahore Cantonment, events that unfolded amidst the nationwide protests on May 9, 2023.