Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi on Friday declared Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri as absconders in a case related to the attack on a senior police officer SSP Asmatullah Junejo during a siege of the Pakistan Television (PTV) building and Parliament by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers on September 1.
On Wednesday the ATC had issued non-bailable warrants against Imran, Qadri and other leaders belonging to PTI and PTI including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PTI leader Asad Umar and PAT leader Raheeq Abbasi. After the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Imran Khan he had said that he would not seek bail from the anti-terrorism court and dared the government to arrest him.
In September, charged protesters of PTI and PAT broke into the PTV headquarters, a state-owned media enterprise.As soon as angry protesters entered the news headquarters of the state-owned television channel, they took over the programming control room and transmission was taken off air temporarily. It was later restored after the army stepped in to vacate the building.
The protesters damaged furniture and television equipment during the rampage and also took away rare pictures, food items from canteen and even the sound system from the building’s mosque.Following the attack on PTV, the federal government termed it an act of "aggression and violence".
