Following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Asad Umar on Wednesday afternoon, police and Rangers took into custody several other members of the party’s senior leadership, including Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, and spokesperson Mussarat Cheema.
Qureshi was the most recent leader to be placed under arrest, taken into custody early on Thursday morning from the Gilgit-Baltistan House in Islamabad under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order for PTI-led riots in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In a video statement he recorded ahead of his arrest, the former foreign minister said he had been informed that police had come to detain him. “This is a movement for real independence and we have all played a role to achieve this,” he said, adding that PTI chief Imran Khan had entrusted him with the party’s responsibility, which he had been trying to fulfill.
Stressing that the movement should continue until the release of Khan, he said he had defended Pakistan’s interests at every forum while serving as the country’s foreign minister and had been actively involved in politics for 40 years. Claiming he had no regrets and was confident that he had not issued any provocative statements that could trigger cases against him, he added that the prevailing narrative against the PTI was based on lies.
“This reeks of political victimization,” he claimed, while expressing confidence that the PTI’s movement would achieve its goals. Expressing grief over the 50 casualties the PTI claims have been inflicted on its supporters during the past two days’ protests and riots, he said that worthwhile causes require sacrifices and the PTI and its workers would continue their struggle.
“All organizations, ticket holders, office-holders are requested not to lose heart and stay in the field,” he said. “We have not taken the law into our hands before, and we will not do so in the future as well,” he claimed, while reiterating that allegations of him and Khan planning the ransacking of the Lahore Corps Commander’s house were false.
Earlier, Fawad was taken into custody under Section 16 of the MPO after he emerged from the Supreme Court—where he had been hiding for much of the day to evade arrest—late on Wednesday night. Maintaining that he had protective bail until May 12, he lamented that authorities were violating the law to detain him.
Separately, police have confirmed that other PTI leaders, including Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Falak Naz Chitrali, Mussarat Jamshed Cheema, and Maleeka Bukhari have also been arrested. “All arrests were carried out after completing the legal requirements,” claimed a spokesperson for the Islamabad Police, adding that nearly 1,000 PTI workers had been arrested in the federal capital for their role in the riots. He warned that identification of culprits was ongoing and more arrests were expected.
Police in Punjab, meanwhile, said 1,386 PTI workers had been arrested in the province on the charges of vandalism, violence and arson of public and private properties. They said over 145 police officers and officials have been wounded across Punjab, while 69 vehicles had been vandalized and set on fire.
PTI Central Punjab President Dr. Yasmin Rashid, meanwhile, continues to evade arrest, though there have been several attempts by police to detain her. According to a leaked audio, she was allegedly involved in the ransacking of the Lahore Corps Commander’s house on Tuesday evening.
PTI Central Punjab General Secretary Hammad Azhar, who has thus far not been targeted for arrest, has issued a call for a “wheel-jam strike” on Thursday (today) and demanded the closure of all markets in Lahore to express solidarity with Khan. Maintaining that “peaceful protests” would continue until Khan’s release, he reiterated the party’s claims of “elements” trying to sow discord by joining the protests.