May 9 agitator claims PTI leadership orchestrated Jinnah House attack

Another miscreant behind the Jinnah House attack in Lahore has been unmasked, who disclosed astonishing revelations and confessions, Express News reported.

Hashir Khan Durrani, the information secretary of PTI Youth Wing Lahore, had emerged as one of the central figures during the Jinnah House attack.

In a video that went viral on the social media following May 9 event, Hashir can be seen continuously shouting “revolutionary” slogans during the Jinnah House attack. During the investigation, Hashir disclosed that the planning for the attack on the Corp Commander House had already been carried out in Zaman Park after the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, adding that the party leadership orchestrated the plan.

He said that the leaders included Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Mian Mahmoodur Rashid, Sheikh Imtiaz and others planned the attack and they executed it.

“This attack was a response to the narrative built by the PTI chairman in our mind against the army,” he said.

Read more: Tareen launches 'Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party' with joint presser

Hashir confessed that he was also present during the attack, and he filmed it as well, adding that he incited people, proclaiming the arrival of ‘revolution’, and proudly declared that it was not the Corp Commander House but the “Khan House”.

“Throughout these actions, the army's response was highly positive. Our armed forces did not cause any harm to any ordinary citizen, not even a scratch,” he said.

The government launched a massive crackdown against PTI which landed in trouble following the rioting on May 9, a day the country’s military and PDM government termed as “black day”.

In an unprecedented show of vandalism, protestors allegedly belonging to the former ruling party vandalised public and private properties and even attacked the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, and Lahore corps commander’s residence, also known as the Jinnah House in Lahore.

Also read: Tareen forms new political party

The attack took place hours after paramilitary Rangers personnel arrested party chairman in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, later retitled as the £190 million National Crime Agency scandal, on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau, from the Islamabad High Court premises.

Following the clampdown, several senior PTI leaders were arrested, and many dissociated themselves from the party.

So far, many senior-most PTI leaders, including Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, Imran Ismail, Ali Zaidi, Amir Kiyani, Saifullah Nyazee, Fayyazul Hassan Chauhan, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, have parted their ways with Imran.

Besides a number of candidates, who were awarded PTI tickets for Punjab Assembly elections, quit the party, condemning the May 9 violence and attacks on military installations.

Earlier in the day, senior politician Jahangir Khan Tareen announced the formation of a new political party — Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party — during the party's first joint press conference in Islamabad.

He was flanked by former PTI leaders Imran Ismail, Aleem Khan and Ali Zaidi, among others during the press conference.

A day earlier, nearly 100 former PTI members of the national and provincial assemblies joined the new party, expressing confidence in Tareen’s leadership.