Former provincial Health Minister ‘key planner’ of attack on Lahore's Jinnah House says Punjab police IG

Lahore, Jun 5 (PTI) Former health minister of Pakistan's Punjab province Dr Yasmin Rashid was the "key planner" of the May 9 attack on the historic Jinnah House or the Corps Commander House here, Punjab police chief Dr Usman Anwar has said after an anti-terrorism court discharged her in the case.
     The Punjab Police will also challenge the anti-terrorism court's (ATC) decision ordering the release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central Punjab president in the corps commander house attack case in the high court, Dawn News quoted the Inspector General as saying on Sunday.
     Addressing a press conference at the Central Police Office (CPO) along with Lahore police chief Bilal Siddique Kamyana, Anwar said: “We are confident enough to prove in a court of law that these PTI leaders were not innocent and that the attacks were not carried out all of a sudden in reaction to the arrest of the PTI chairman (Imran Khan).”
     “We detected 41 calls of the PTI leader Yasmin Rashid, among other party leaders, which were enough to produce as evidence in a court of law to prove them as planners and perpetrators of the attacks on the military installation,” the IG said.
     Anwar also played the video clips of Rashid on a TV screen where, the IG claimed, she was “planning the attack on Jinnah House”.
     Discussing the role of other key PTI leaders, including Hammad Azhar, Mian Aslam Iqbal, and Murad Raas, in the violence, Anwar said the police also traced the call records of these suspects to “prove their direct involvement in the attacks” on military installations.
     Khan’s party found itself in hot waters when protesters allegedly belonging to the party attacked civil and military properties on May 9 following the arrest of Khan in the Al-Qadir corruption case. Khan, who has a massive following across Pakistan, was later released on bail.
     The PTI supporters attacked military installations in different parts of the country, including the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, Lahore’s Jinnah House where the Corps Commander was residing, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad.
     Anwar said they would challenge the ATC decision to release Rashid and Hammad Azhar, adding that the police would present evidence that they had been making calls to protesters for attacks on the military installations.
     A report of a forensic analysis issued by the Punjab police confirmed the presence of Rashid outside the corps commander’s house.
     The report said video and audio clips were sent to the Punjab Forensic Laboratory for analysis which established the PTI leader’s presence outside the Jinnah House at the time of the attack. Her presence was also proved through a photogrammetry test, the report added.
     The IG claimed that a total of 215 calls were made to incite the mob that attacked the military installation in Lahore. Out of them, 41 calls were made by Yasmin Rashid, 75 by Mahmoodur Rasheed, 50 by Ijaz Chaudhry, 16 by Mian Aslam Iqbal, 23 by Murad Raas, and 10 calls by PTI leader Hammad Azhar.
     He said 50 calls from Mianwali were linked to the five top leaders of the PTI regarding the attack on the Mianwali air base.
     Similarly, 88 calls were detected from around the GHQ in Rawalpindi on May 8 and May 9, the IG Punjab said.
     He said the police have identified 708 suspects allegedly involved in the attack on the corps commander’s house; 125 have been arrested so far.
     During the press conference, the police chief criticised the social media influencers of PTI and claimed that they were sharing misleading information about the torture of party workers, particularly female activists, which warranted action by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
     He alleged the PTI leaders were misleading the public by “sharing old video clips and photos to defame” law enforcement agencies, making serious allegations that police were torturing the arrested workers.
     Law enforcement agencies have arrested over 10,000 workers of Khan's party across Pakistan, 4,000 of them from Punjab.
     Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.
     The Punjab Police had previously claimed, citing a geo-fencing report, that Khan and his close aides allegedly coordinated efforts to storm the residence of the Lahore Corps Commander and other buildings.
     The IG said that attackers on May 9 injured several police officers and other personnel of the police, leaving many of them with leg and arm fractures.
     Despite "all this", the police would continue to do their work only according to the law, the Punjab police chief said.
     Besides Rashid and other leaders, over 400 unidentified people have been named in the case.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)