What happened
An Islamabad additional district and sessions court dismissed a private criminal complaint filed by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan over the alleged violent crackdown on the party’s 26 November 2024 protest, in a ruling reported on 23 July 2026 that clears Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and several senior ministers and officials.
Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka dismissed the complaint at the pre-summoning stage, ruling that PTI had failed to provide tangible evidence, a calendar of witnesses, or medical and forensic reports to support its allegations of mass murder and excessive use of force, Dawn reported.
The complaint named Prime Minister Shehbaz, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Islamabad police chief Ali Nasir Rizvi, among others. It alleged a high-level conspiracy to violently suppress the PTI’s “final protest” in the capital and claimed that law enforcement used lethal force at the leadership’s behest to clear Blue Area and Jinnah Avenue on 26 November 2024.
What the court found
The Express Tribune reported that the complaint was dismissed after Gohar repeatedly failed to record his statement under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a mandatory first step, despite multiple opportunities over 19 months.
Judge Majoka noted that neither the 38 people PTI said were injured nor the legal heirs of the 12 it said were killed were produced in court, and that no post-mortem or medico-legal reports were submitted. High-profile figures named as eyewitnesses, including then-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub and Bushra Bibi, did not appear, the court observed.
The judge rejected a photocopy of an unidentified person’s death certificate dated 24 December 2024, a month after the alleged incident, as irrelevant, and cited a Supreme Court judgment holding that a private complaint could not be used to level frivolous accusations without substantive forensic evidence.
Why it matters
The ruling removes a significant legal challenge to the prime minister and his cabinet and deals a setback to PTI, which had sought to pin responsibility for the deaths of its workers on the political leadership. Because the complaint was thrown out before any summons, the respondents were not required to enter a defence or appear in court.
What is still uncertain
The dismissal addresses the private complaint, not the underlying events of 26 November 2024, which remain disputed. PTI did not immediately say whether it would challenge the ruling or pursue another legal route, and no independent finding has established what happened during the crackdown.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 23 July 2026.
- Dawn — "PM Shehbaz, ministers acquitted in Nov 26 protest crackdown case"23 July 2026 · The dismissal, the respondents named and the court's reasoning.
- The Express Tribune — "Court rejects PTI plea in Nov 26 case"23 July 2026 · The Section 200 failure and the background to the complaint.
