Punjab govt challenges Dr Yasmin Rashid's release in May 9 case

Claims former health minister led mob that attacked Jinnah House

LAHORE:

The Punjab government challenged Dr Yasmin Rashid’s discharge by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in a case pertaining to the attack on Jinnah House on May 9 on Tuesday.

The provincial government had filed a petition before the Lahore High Court (LHC), challenging the ATC’s order to release the former health minister.

The petition contends that the trial court made the decision to discharge Dr Rashid from the case in contradiction with the facts.

The government has moved the LHC to declare the ATC’s order for release of the former health minister “null and void”, arguing that she led the mob that attacked the Lahore Corps Commander House [Jinnah House].

A day prior, Punjab Police Chief Dr Usman Anwar had claimed that Dr Rashid a ‘key planner’ of attacks on Jinnah House and the military’s General Headquarters (GHQ) were “well planned by the PTI leaders”.

The police claimed to have detected 41 calls made by the former health minister besides calls by other party leaders to allegedly incite a mob to attack military installations in Lahore. Moreover, the department issued a forensic analysis report stating that Dr Rashid was present outside the Corps Commander House at the time of the attack.

Read Court orders Qureshi's 'immediate' release

The police chief also lashed out at social media influencers associated with the party for sharing false reports of female protestors being harassed in custody or being mistreated. Citing a total of 215 calls allegedly made to incite the mob in Lahore, he named other PTI leaders including Hammad Azhar, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Murad Raas, Mahmoodur Rasheed and Ijaz Chaudhry.

According to Dr Anwar, the police have enough evidence to take the case to trial and prove before the court that the PTI leaders were not innocent and were involved in the attacks on military installations. Based on such evidence, the provincial police chief said that the department would challenge the ATC’s decision to discharge her from the case and order her release from custody.

He further announced that the department has no option but to approach the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) to take action against those involved in a “malicious” campaign to malign the police on social media. Dr Anwar said that many of the videos being shared online purportedly of police mistreatment and abuse of protestors were actually from 2019 and 2021.

Dr Anwar informed that the police have identified a total of 708 suspects allegedly involved in the attack on Jinnah House and 125 have been arrested thus far. Another 170 suspected attackers were traced through WhatsApp groups and messages that he said were accessed through mobile phones of those taken into custody.

Later the same night, PTI leader Hammad Azhar, who has been in hiding to evade arrest, tweeted that his father, former Punjab governor Mian Muhammad Azhar, 82, has been “taken away” by the police and some unidentified individuals to an “undisclosed location”.