May 9 cases: LHC declares Imran Khan's physical remand verdict 'null and void'

• Court nullifies Imran Khan's appearance via video link.
• PTI challenged ATC verdict on 10-day physical remand. 
• ATC approved PTI founder's physical remand in 12 cases. 

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday declared a verdict, allowing the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in May 9 cases, "null and void". 

A two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Anwar-ul-Haq Pannu reserved the verdict on the petitions challenging the former prime minister's physical remand.

The high court also declared the notification of the PTI founder's appearance via the video link null and void. 

During the hearing today, Justice Saleem said that the suspect cannot be forced to undergo photogrammetry test. 

Meanwhile, Pannu questioned the prosecutor when did he get the idea that we should move towards the modern devices now. 

Prosecutor General Punjab Farhad Ali Shah told the court that the facility to conduct the photogrammetry test is inside the jail and it would be an injustice to not give prosecution a "full chance". 

"At the end, the prosecution is blamed that it failed," Shah added.

The prosecutor told the court the investigation would be impossible without the recovery of mobile phone through which the tweets were posted and WhatsApp messages were sent. 

At this, the Justice Pannu asked how will the mobile be recovered when the suspect is in jail. 

The PTI founder filed petitions against the anti-terrorism court's (ATC) verdict, saying that it did not assess the records properly when granting police Khan's physical remand.

An ATC in Lahore last week had approved a 10-day physical remand of the PTI founder in 12 cases related to the May 9 riots. 

He was remanded in five cases of Sarwar Road police station, three cases of Gulberg police station and one case each of Race Course, Shadman, Mughalpura and Model Town police stations.

LHC discards PTI founder's plea against military custody

In another development today, PTI founder Khan moved the Punjab's top court to avert his potential detention by the military in connection with the May 9 cases.

However, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh discarded his plea, upholding the objection raised by the Registrar's office.

The registrar of the court objected that the power of attorney submitted to the LHC was not signed.

Khan pleaded with the LHC to direct authorities to keep him under the jurisdiction of "civilian courts".

The PTI founder, in his petition filed by his counsel Aziz Karamat, nominated the federal government and the inspectors general of police of all provinces as respondents.