ISLAMABAD — An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Saturday discharged all Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers held in two cases tied to the party’s long march, after police repeatedly failed to produce them for an identification parade, The News International reported.
Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain ordered the discharge of the workers from proceedings in the two cases, which were registered at Islamabad’s Shalimar and Secretariat police stations and in which the workers had been held on judicial remand for an identification parade, according to The News.
The investigating officer sought yet another adjournment for the parade, but defense counsel — Sardar Muhammad Masroof, Murtaza Toori, and Zahid Bashir Dar — opposed it, telling the court the accused had been in custody for more than 40 days, that police had sought adjournments at every hearing, and that they had failed to produce the workers for the parade. The defense argued all the workers were innocent, had been deliberately arrested, and that police arbitrarily label arrestees as PTI members, The News reported.
Shehbaz: emergency was “compelled”
On the same day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave his most detailed on-record defense yet of the emergency and Governor’s Rule imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying his government had been “compelled” to take the step, according to Dawn, as reported via ANI.
Shehbaz alleged a complete breakdown in PTI’s cooperation with the federal government on counter-terrorism in the province. He said a joint delegation of the ruling coalition and the opposition had held “day and night, for 48 hours” of talks with PTI, and that a draft agreement was ready under which the party would call off its long march. He added that he had personally held several meetings with KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and his predecessor Ali Amin Gandapur, and promised that administrative and resource decisions for the province would be made in consultation with the chief minister.
Why it matters
The court’s ruling is the first significant judicial relief for detained PTI workers since the emergency deepened — and it lands on the same day the prime minister hardened his political justification for that emergency. The two developments together capture Pakistan’s split-screen crisis: courts pushing back against open-ended detentions, with judges openly questioning police conduct, while the government insists the emergency is a counter-terrorism necessity forced by PTI’s non-cooperation. The defense’s claim — that police round up citizens and label them PTI members — is one the government will have to answer if more detention cases reach judges in this mood.
What happens next
The discharged workers walk free from these two cases, but the broader detention dragnet continues, and related proceedings in other cases are still moving through the courts. The unresolved question remains the long march itself: Shehbaz’s account says a deal to call it off was nearly ready, which raises the question of whether talks can be revived — or whether the emergency hardens positions further. And with no new development on Imran Khan’s own situation, the party’s central grievance — its leader’s detention and hospital transfer, the subject of PTI’s contempt petition reported earlier this week — remains entirely unaddressed.
