An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday granted pre-arrest bail to 14 leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) including its Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid in cases of resorting to violence during the party’s last month long march.

The PTI leaders appeared before the court along with their counsel.

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Shahdara and Gulberg police had registered the FIR on multiple charges and also included the offence under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The petitioners’ counsel argued before the court that the police registered a fabricated case on political consolidation. He asked the court to grant the pre-arrest bail to the petitioners as police wanted to arrest them.

On the other hand, an investigating officer stated that the custody of the petitioners was required to complete the investigation. He previously filed an application before the court for issuance of arrest warrants of the petitioners.

However, the court granted pre-arrest bail to the petitioners subject to furnishing of bail bonds of Rs100, 000 each and restrained the police from arresting them till June 17.

Other PTI leaders who were allowed the bail include Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mahmood, Andleeb Abbas, Senator Ijaz Chaudhry, Zubair Khan Niazi, Imtiaz Mahmood Sheikh, Murad Raas, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Yasir Gillani and Malik Nadeem Abbas.

Talking to media outside the court, Mr Azhar alleged that police registered the bogus case against the opposition leaders on instructions of interior minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz. He said the government wanted to make Pakistan a fascist state.

He sought an inquiry to determine whether FIA official Dr Muhammad Rizwan and Maqsood ‘chaprasi’ (peon), an employee of Ramzan Sugar Mills, died naturally or were murdered.

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Earlier, a special anti-terrorism court on Friday issued arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members over terrorism charges.

As per details, the Police had appealed in the court for the arrest of PTI leaders on charges of vandalism during the long march on May 25.

The court has issued arrest warrants for PTI leaders Shafqat Mehmood, Hammad Azhar, Ijaz Chaudhry, Dr Yasmeen Rashid and others.

As the development came in, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry lambasted the incumbent government over its tactics against PTI adding that Modi has been filing cases against the Kashmiris while in Pakistan, Modi’s business partners (Sharifs) have been issuing arrest warrants for PTI leaders with terrorism charges.