LHC Split Ruling on May 9 Appeals Suspends Pahat’s Sentence, Rejects Chaudhry and Rasheed

Overview

• A two-judge Lahore High Court bench led by Justice Shahbaz Rizvi issued a split decision Tuesday, suspending Afzal Azeem Pahat’s sentence in the Sherpao Bridge rioting and arson case and ordering his release.
• The same bench dismissed four applications by Ejaz Chaudhry and one by Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed that sought to suspend their sentences in related May 9 cases.
• Defence counsel Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq said the anti-terrorism court’s verdicts were contrary to the facts and noted the convicts had already spent more than two and a half years in jail.
• The special prosecutor argued the May 9 violence was part of a planned effort to destabilise the state and urged the court not to pause the prison terms.
• In December 2025, an anti-terrorism court sentenced several PTI leaders, including Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhry and Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, to 10 years in separate cases, while main appeals continue and Shah Mahmood Qureshi was acquitted in another case.