Terrorism charges added to FIR against Maryam, Safdar over NAB office clash.

LAHORE: Lahore police on Friday added Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 to the FIR against PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, her husband Captain (r) Safdar and party workers in a case relating to a clash outside the National Accountability Bureau's Lahore office.

Consequently, a sessions court in Lahore dismissed the plea for interim bail filed by 16 PML-N workers and directed all parties to approach the relevant forum. The investigating officer told the court that terrorism provisions have been added to the case, hence the case was no longer under the jurisdiction of the sessions court. To this, Safdar's counsel said it was unfortunate that terrorism charges were being added to a political case. "Police added terrorism charges to the case contrary to the truth," he said.

In a written order, the court observed that the petitioner claimed the case was 'malafide' as the investigating officer had added terror clauses without collecting evidence. The court also noted that the public prosecutor had submitted that after the insertion of Section 7, the court had no jurisdiction to grant bail. "It is also argued that CCTV footage and other material collected by the IO suggest the accused, after due deliberation, attacked the NAB office. After addition of the offence, which are triable exclusively by special court constituted under the Anti-Terrorism Act, this court cannot confirm the pre-arrest bail granted to the petitioner," the court order said.

The Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, deals with punishment for terrorism. The PML-N leaders and workers were booked for the alleged incitement of riots outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office last month.

Safdar appeared before an anti-terrorism court and obtained interim bail till September 11...