Rawalpindi, March 7, 2026: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Saturday sentenced 47 proclaimed offenders, including prominent Hammad Azhar, Omar Ayub, and Zartaj Gul, to 10 years in prison in the May 9 GHQ attack case.
District and Sessions Judge Amjad Ali Shah, presiding over ATC No. 1, issued a 16-page detailed judgment, also imposing a fine of Rs500,000 each and ordering the confiscation of the convicts’ property in favour of the state.
The convicts include senior PTI leaders such as Shibli Faraz, Murad Saeed, Shahbaz Gill, Zulfi Bukhari, as well as former MNAs Kanwal Shauzab, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Muhammad Ahmed Chattha, and Sheikh Rashid Shafique.
The May 9, 2023, arrest of Imran Khan sparked widespread riots nationwide, during which government buildings and military installations — including the GHQ in Rawalpindi — were stormed and vandalized. Following the unrest, dozens of terrorism cases were lodged against PTI leaders and supporters.
Several of the sentenced leaders, including Ayub, Faraz, Gul, Nawaz, and Chattha, had already been convicted in other May 9 cases, resulting in their disqualification from public office.
The court’s verdict noted that the convicts were involved in attacks on GHQ Gate No. 1, Hamza Camp, the Army Museum, and the Sixth Road Metro Station, citing charges of arson, vandalism, assaults on police officials, and damage to government property.
Of the 118 accused in the case, 18 were absent intermittently while 29 never appeared. The trial for the 47 proclaimed offenders was conducted under Section 21L of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which allows punishment for absconders.
The court highlighted that “long unexplained absconsion of the accused after involvement in a criminal case always gives an inference of guilt unless proved otherwise,” referencing international jurisprudence from the US Supreme Court, the UK’s Criminal Justice Act 2003, and the European Court of Human Rights.
Conviction warrants were ordered to be sent to Rawalpindi’s Central Jail and RA Bazar station house, with perpetual non-bailable warrants issued. The court clarified that the convicts are entitled to retrial on merit if they surrender within two months, or later on showing good cause for non-appearance.
PTI response
The PTI termed the verdict “contrary to the basic principles of justice” and described it as a “sad example of vengeful actions in Pakistan’s political history.”
The party stated that several convictions were issued in absentia, adding that such decisions cannot suppress public sentiment or halt PTI’s democratic struggle.
The party demanded that the “chain of political vendetta be stopped immediately”, the supremacy of the Constitution and law be upheld, and political prisoners be released.
“The people of Pakistan are aware that these ongoing actions are a continuation of political engineering,” the PTI statement added, asserting that the GHQ attack case is another link in a series of legal proceedings against party leadership.
This verdict represents one of the most high-profile judgments in the ongoing May 9 cases against PTI leaders, which have dominated Pakistan’s political landscape since 2023.
