LAHORE: The Punjab police on Sunday in a statement emphasized that “all conspirators, planners, and perpetrators” of the May 9 incident, including the former Punjab health minister, would be brought to justice and that they would appeal the Lahore court’s decision to release PTI leader Yasmin Rashid in the Jinnah House attack case.
The PTI chief’s arrest at the Islamabad High Court last month by the paramilitary Rangers in a corruption case had sparked countrywide protests, during which several private and public properties, including military installations, were vandalized.
Rashid, along with 17 other women PTI workers, was initially detained under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance and was re-arrested merely hours after the LHC had ordered her release on May 13.
A day earlier, a Lahore ATC had ordered Rashid’s release along with 23 other suspects and discharged her from the case. She was not released due to other cases pertaining to the May 9 protests.
1/2 https://t.co/5Lquu1aCyi pic.twitter.com/5WyOKYZ906
— Punjab Police Official (@OfficialDPRPP) June 4, 2023
The provincial police, in a statement shared on its official Twitter handle, said the investigation into the Jinnah House attack was being carried out on scientific lines.
“The court order is being challenged as the police were not given the opportunity to present forensic evidence in the case,” the police said.
It said the court order regarding Rashid’s case will attain finality after the order of the High Court, adding: “Police reserves its right to investigate the case and to bring the truth before the public.”
“Any premature assumption/inference at this stage is likely to be misleading,” the police advised.
Now that Dr Yasmin is pronounced innocent in the arson at Lahore CC house, it means that as the President of Central Punjab, PTI as a party had no hand in the arson.
So the whole crackdown on PTI was on the pretext that the party had planned the violence.
Now this narrative… pic.twitter.com/KcSKeIBEtd
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 3, 2023
The statement comes after PTI chief Imran Khan claimed Yasmin Rashid’s release from the prison meant the “PTI as a party had no hand in the arson” at the Lahore Corps Commander House on May 9.
“Now that Dr. Yasmin is pronounced innocent in the arson at Lahore CC house, it means that as the President of Central Punjab, PTI as a party had no hand in the arson,” Imran tweeted earlier.
He further claimed the entire “crackdown on PTI was on the pretext that the party had planned the violence.”
“Now this narrative has been blown apart,” he emphasised.
