An Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to block the passports of 24 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and lawmakers, including Chief Minister (CM) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Sohail Afridi and Omar Ayub, in a case registered at Kohsar Police Station.
ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain issued the order after police sought permission to block the passports, saying that they could leave the country to avoid legal proceedings.
The investigating officer told the court that the accused had not surrendered before the court, while some of those who had secured interim bail had also not joined the investigation despite the passage of considerable time.
The court order stated that the accused were facing allegations linked to attacks on state institutions and advancing the cause of terrorism.
The order said that some of the accused had obtained ad-interim bail from the court but had not joined the investigation into the case. Based on the investigating officer’s request and the reasons presented before it, the court approved the request to block their passports and directed the FIA to take action.
Those named in the order include former National Assembly (NA) speaker Asad Qaiser, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, Junaid Akbar, Shahid Khattak, Zubair Wazir, Shehram Khan Tarakai, Omar Ayub and several PTI lawmakers.
