RAWALPINDI  -  The Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Tuesday turned down an appeal for acquittal of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, president of Awami Muslim League (AML), in a case related to May 9 attack on the gate of GHQ, army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.

A division bench of the LHC comprising Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf and Justice Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar dismissed the appeal filed by Sheikh Rashid through his lawyer Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan against a decision of the trial court in the case. Earlier, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi had rejected the acquittal plea of Sheikh Rashid, who has challenged the trial court’s verdict in the LHC. Arguing for Rashid’s acquittal, advocate Khan maintained that the prosecution had neither evidence nor eye-witnesses against his client. The lawyer said that the prosecution initiated criminal proceedings against Rashid relying on the confessional statement of a co-accused in the case. The defence lawyer further argued that the statement of another accused in the similar case could not be used against his client. He added that the investigators had no evidence to prove their claim that Sheikh Rashid attended an online meeting via Zoom video link app to organise the alleged attack on GHQ.

The division bench, however, while dismissing the plea observed the case was pending before the trial court and the prosecution had yet to present evidence in the court. It was on December 5 that the ATC had formally indicted Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed with other over 100 accused in the GHQ attack case. According to the investigators of the case, the accused face 27 severe charges. It has been alleged that the accused had stormed the GHQ gate on May 9, 2023, causing significant property damage despite being warned by military personnel to stop. The accused are also alleged to have broken into sensitive areas of the GHQ, set fires, threw petrol bombs, and created chaos within the premises. The investigators further alleged that attacks were also made on sensitive ISI and GHQ offices, characterizing the protest as a criminal conspiracy.