LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Friday reserved its verdict on PTI leaders’ petitions challenging the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the cases of violence and attack on police outside the residence of former prime minister Imran Khan.

A law officer concluding his arguments said that the provincial government had asked the federal government to nominate the names of representatives from the agencies working under its domain for the JIT.

The additional secretary Home said in the court the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) adopted the same procedure for the formation of a JIT as was in practice since 1997. However, he said there was still room for improvement in the rules.

The bench observed that the petitioners had grievances against some of the members of JIT. The law officer said the police teams were attacked with petrol bombs and stones.

He said there was information of armed workers inside and outside the house of PTI chief. A counsel for the petitioners also argued that the police included the offence of terrorism in the cases beyond the facts.

The court observed it would like to know the reasons behind the JIT constitution and the rules exercised by the government. The bench reserved its verdict after lawyers from both the sides concluded their arguments. The petitions were filed by Dr Yasmin Rashid, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema and Fawad Chaudhry.

The petitioners submitted that the police registered politically-motivated cases against the PTI leaders and constituted an illegal JIT for the investigation. They said the police unlawfully inserted provisions of the anti-terrorism law in the cases. They asked the court to set aside the notification of the formation of JIT and also the call-up notices issued to them and other leaders of the PTI.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023