LAHORE - PTI leaders Yasmin Rashid and Omar Sarfaraz Cheema have also been arrested on a fresh first information report pertaining to attacking the Prime Minister’s House in Lahore.
The senior PTI leaders are already imprisoned in multiple cases linked to the May 9 violence. PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif was premier during the time of the May 9 violence, and his Model Town residence was designated the Prime Minister’s House. Yasmin and Cheema were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Monday and later sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 in the Al-Qadir Trust case had resulted in widespread violence and saw important military installations come under attack, on the basis of which the state had launched a severe crackdown against his party. While the expremier was released a few days later (he has since been rearrested in the Toshakhana, cipher and now Al-Qadir Trust cases), scores of PTI workers and almost the entire toptier leadership were rounded up, with many still facing court proceedings under serious charges. Earlier this month, the Punjab police launched a fresh crackdown on workers and activists of the PTI and made several arrests from various parts of the country.
The investigation police had sprung into action based on a new list of 884 PTI workers circulated to all the 84 police stations of the city as “new targets”. A majority of these new targets were declared the ‘B team’ of the PTI’s top leadership, including Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hassaan Niazi, Rashid etc, said an official.