Founder PTI, Shah Mahmood handed 10-year jail term - Ghumman and Hasan Ayub's analysis
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00:00 Former Prime Minister Bani PTI and his foreign minister, Shah Maud Qureshi, have been sentenced to 10 years.
00:11 Today, this happened.
00:13 As you can see, this case was going on for a long time.
00:16 This case was heard by the court of Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain.
00:22 And this case was trialled in the jail. It is an open trial, but it was a case of security.
00:31 Keeping all this in mind, this case was held there.
00:35 A special court was formed and this case was held under the Official Secret Act.
00:41 We are getting the opinions of different lawyers in this case.
00:52 But the way this case was handled, especially during the last 3-4 days,
00:58 was Bani PTI and Shah Maud Qureshi's lawyer's performance lacklustre or was he not able to reach the court?
01:09 The court had to appoint a defense counsel.
01:13 Obviously, Bani PTI and Shah Maud Qureshi refused to accept.
01:18 We are getting to know that the lawyers were on one side and the defense counsel and the prosecution were on the same side.
01:29 Obviously, the government appointed them.
01:32 This was an allegation and an objection was raised that we will not accept this.
01:38 Anyway, this case has been decided.
01:41 Both of them have been sentenced to 10 years.
01:44 Obviously, Bani PTI was already out of the elections.
01:48 If I am not mistaken, Shah Maud Qureshi was allowed to contest the elections in Sindh.
01:55 I think this is the news that he lost that chance.
02:01 But when this decision was announced, the opinions of various lawyers and experts began to come out on various television screens.
02:12 What is their opinion?
02:14 First of all, what was the reaction of the former Attorney General of Pakistan Muslim League Noon, Ashtar Usab, when he was sentenced?
02:23 The due process has been followed.
02:27 I think that the punishment that has been given is less because this was a very serious matter.
02:34 The Prime Minister did not care at all about the impact of this on the country's peace.
02:41 I think this is a case that should be punished.
02:47 Viewers, obviously, it is a matter of cipher.
02:50 According to the accuser of 342, Bani PTI said that he had disappeared from his office.
02:58 I did an inquiry at that time.
03:02 But I don't know where he is.
03:04 But the way he used the cipher, he was accused of putting the national security of the country at stake for political purposes.
03:13 After that, viewers, obviously, Ali Zafar is also a senator of Pakistan Tariq-e-Insaf.
03:18 And the various cases of Pakistan Tariq-e-Insaf are also fighting in various courts for some time.
03:23 Their reaction is obvious.
03:26 What is the other side of the fence saying?
03:29 The trial was not right. It is a mistrial.
03:34 It is completely illegal.
03:36 The conviction and punishment is that the time the appeal is filed, it will be suspended.
03:42 I don't see any legal status in this.
03:45 I will not call it a case. I will not call it a trial.
03:48 I will not call it a test.
03:50 It is a completely false accusation.
03:52 There is no need to believe it.
03:55 Viewers, obviously, Hamid Khan has a different relationship with PTI.
03:59 But you know for some time he had a fight with Bani PTI.
04:03 He has a principled position at every point.
04:06 Especially Hassan Ayub has covered the Supreme Court.
04:09 So he takes a line.
04:11 You will remember that the current Chief Inspector, Qazi Faiz Issa, when he made a reference against him,
04:17 he was standing with Qazi Sahib at that time and said that this is wrong.
04:21 So that is his own opinion. When he gave this punishment, he also gave his opinion.
04:26 All the proceedings have been done illegally.
04:31 The defense counsel, which is actually a part of the prosecution,
04:34 has been selected from the prosecution team and appointed as the defense counsel.
04:41 Its purpose is only to guarantee that the conviction can be made.
04:48 Viewers, after this we saw that the leaders of Pakistan Muslim League Noon
04:53 gave very interesting opinions and statements about this punishment.
04:59 Before going to them, let's first go to our panelists.
05:02 Hassan, you have a lot of experience in court reporting.
05:07 What is your immediate reaction?
05:09 Both of them have been sentenced to 10 years.
05:13 The defense counsel and the PTI are saying that justice should be served.
05:22 But within a day, 25 witnesses were sentenced and the case went on till 1 am.
05:28 Is this unprecedented in Pakistan or is this common in other cases?
05:34 No, the punishment was given at night.
05:36 The punishment will not be given at night, it will be given in the morning.
05:39 The trial has been conducted but I have the Supreme Court's order.
05:43 I think it is from 22nd December 2023.
05:47 If you see paragraph 8 of the order, Justice Mansoor Shah has given a bail.
05:51 He has said that you should expeditiously take the trial to the conclusion.
05:56 This was the direction of the Supreme Court, the trial court.
06:00 The trial court cannot go beyond that.
06:03 The bail has been granted to Bani Chairman Tariq Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
06:10 So in your opinion, this process went on smoothly.
06:13 This is not haste.
06:15 You see, this case was asked to be recorded 2-3 times.
06:21 The cases that were closed, were declared null and void.
06:25 Even from the High Court, on different stages.
06:28 So it has taken a long time.
06:33 It should have been concluded before this.
06:35 It has not been delayed.
06:36 The second thing is that the punishments have been reduced.
06:38 I was watching a private television channel that tweeted about Alima Khan.
06:43 She said that she expected to be punished with death.
06:47 This is a 10 year imprisonment.
06:49 In your opinion, how much punishment should have been given in this case?
06:53 In this case, the punishment should have been 10 years of death.
07:00 Because I had too much death penalty.