The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore has ordered the dismissal of the case concerning the alleged attack on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office during the appearance of Maryam Nawaz. The decision was announced by ATC Judge Arshad Javed following the submission of the police report on Friday morning. Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Jabbar Dogar had requested the court to close the case, and the court approved the plea to dismiss it. In its report, the police stated that according to the statements of witnesses, the allegations of stone-pelting on the NAB office against Maryam Nawaz and other accused were not substantiated.

The report added that there was no evidence available to proceed with a trial against the accused, and therefore, the case should be dropped. Police officers who served as witnesses and investigators in the case also recorded their statements before the court, after which the ATC ordered the case to be quashed. The case had been registered in 2020 at the Chuhng Police Station on the complaint of NAB Deputy Director Muhammad Asghar.

Those named in the case included the sitting Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Prime Minister’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah, Captain (Retired) Safdar Awan, Bilal Yasin, Pervaiz Rashid, Daniyal Aziz, Khawaja Imran Nazir, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Colonel (Retired) Mubashir Javed, Yasmeen Sohail, and several other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders.  According to the FIR, NAB had summoned Maryam Nawaz in the Raiwind land case, but during her appearance, the accused allegedly resorted to stone-pelting at the NAB office.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)