Applications for withdrawal must be submitted after Cabinet Minutes are received, leaving no pending cases from May protests
Protesters throw stones after police fired tear gas to disperse them in Lahore May 9, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government plans to withdraw more than 55 cases against PTI workers during protests on May 9 and 10 following a government decision.
Attorney General Shah Faisal Utmankhel said 319 cases were registered during the protests. Most of the accused have been acquitted or acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The 55 pending cases will be withdrawn once the minutes of the Cabinet meeting are received and Additional Solicitor General Inam Yousafzai has been appointed as a special prosecutor to oversee the process.
Read: KP government moves to cancel cases on May 9
Some cases did not contain anti-terror clauses, while others were settled after responses were filed with the court. The 55 unanswered cases are the ones that will be withdrawn. Of those with Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) provisions, 29 remain pending, while 23 have been completed with eight acquittals. The remaining cases were transferred to ordinary courts because the ATA provisions could not be applied.
Six cases remain pending, with responses filed for one, and the remaining five are still pending. Once the cabinet minutes are received, withdrawal applications will be filed and argued in court, leaving no pending cases from the protests.
Read more: KP government scraps May 9 cases from caretaker period
According to a report on Saturday, 416 terror cases are pending across 10 Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Peshawar accounts for 192 of these cases across three courts.
By November 2025, 100 cases were settled across the province. Peshawar settled 57, Matta 15 and Mardan seven, while Swat and Upper Dir settled three each. Meanwhile, the courts of Buner, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan decided none.
