KARACHI: A Pakistani military court has sentenced 60 civilians to jail time ranging from 2 to 10 years in connection with riots in which supporters of jailed ex-premier Imran Khan were accused of attacking army facilities, the military said on Thursday.
The announcement comes days after the military said it had sentenced 25 people to prison for participating in violent protests on May 9, 2023, when hundreds of alleged Khan supporters stormed military and government installations and even torched a top commander’s house. The riots followed the former premier’s brief arrest by paramilitary soldiers in a land bribe case that day.
The military initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence and there have been widespread reports it also plans to prosecute Khan under the Pakistan Army Act on charges of treason and attempting to incite a mutiny in the military.
A list of the 60 convicts announced on Thursday included two retired military officers, Brig. (retired) Javed Akram and Captain (retired) Viqas Ahmed Mohsin, and Khan’s nephew Hassan Khan Niazi.
“The trial of 9th May accused under military custody has hereby been concluded under the relevant laws,” the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing, said. “All convicts retain the right to appeal and other legal recourses, as guaranteed by the Constitution and law.”
The military said the government and army remained steadfast in “their commitment to upholding justice and ensuring that the inviolable writ of the state is maintained.”
The federal government’s spokesman Attaullah Tarar said the verdicts showed that “rule of law has prevailed.”
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party also reacted to the development, saying the Dec. 21 verdicts by military courts against 25 civilians had been met by concern by the US, UK and the EU. 
“Despite concerns shown by the US State Department, UK Government and European Union, they went ahead with convicting more civilians, in violation of almost the entire operative part of International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights to which Pakistan is a party,” the party said in a statement. 
The verdicts come as the Pakistani federal government this week opened talks with the PTI in a bid to bring down political temperatures. 
Pakistan has remained gripped by political unrest and uncertainty since Khan’s ouster from power through a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022. He blames his removal from the PM’s office on his political rivals led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the all-powerful military. Both reject the charge. 
Though Khan was released days after his brief arrest on May 9 last year, he was rearrested in August and has since been in jail in a slew of cases he says are politically motivated.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Thursday Islamabad prioritized diplomacy with neighboring Afghanistan, a day after the country's Afghan Taliban rulers said at least 46 people including women and children had been killed in Pakistani airstrikes in the eastern border province of Paktika.
The Pakistan army and government have not yet officially confirmed the airstrikes, which the Afghan Taliban have condemned, saying they had targeted "mostly civilians."
Media widely reported on Wednesday that Pakistani security forces targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), dismantling a training facility and killing several insurgents. 
At a weekly press briefing on Thursday, Baloch declined to confirm Tuesday’s airstrikes but said Pakistan was committed to the security of its people, and its security and law enforcement personnel conducted operations based on “concrete intelligence” against terror groups operating in the border areas.
“I would like to add here that Pakistan believes in dialogue and diplomacy.  We have always prioritized diplomacy in our relations with Afghanistan,” Baloch said. “Despite the presence of terror hideouts and sanctuaries, and the consistent threat they pose to Pakistan, we have always opted for diplomacy.”
Baloch reiterated Pakistan's demand that Afghanistan prevent the use of its territory for terror attacks against Pakistan, calling on the neighbor to work with Islamabad to combat the threat posed by groups like the TTP.
“And any issues that either side has with regards to border management, trade and transit trade, security, terrorism, these issues remain high on our bilateral agenda,” Baloch added.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Pakistan battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions.
Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban authorities of harboring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity. Kabul has denied the allegations.
The banned TTP group said in a statement on Wednesday the strikes had hit “the homes of defenseless refugees” on Tuesday evening, killing at least 50 civilians, including 27 women and children.
Deadly air strikes by Pakistan’s military in the border regions of Afghanistan in March that the Taliban authorities said killed eight civilians had prompted skirmishes on the frontier.