Pakistan court declares protest leaders as absconders

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Friday declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Tahirul Qadri as "absconders" in a case related to an attack on a senior police officer during a blockade of the Pakistan Television (PTV) and parliament buildings by protesters Sep 1.

On Wednesday, the special court issued non-bailable warrants against Imran Khan, Qadri and other PTI and PAT leaders, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Dawn online reported.

After the court's warrants, Imran Khan said that he would not seek bail from the ATC and dared the government to arrest him.

In September, charged protesters of the PTI and PAT broke into the PTV headquarters, a state-owned media enterprise.

As soon as protesters entered the PTV building, they took over the programming control room and transmission was taken off air temporarily.

It was later restored after the army stepped in to get the building cleared of the protesters.

The protesters vandalised furniture and television equipment during the rampage and also took away rare pictures, food items from canteen and even the sound system from the building's mosque.

Following the attack on PTV, the federal government termed it an act of "aggression and violence".