Lahore Police on Monday re-arrested, within minutes of their release on bail from Kot Lakhpat Jail, several women workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Last week, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had ordered the release on bail of nine members of the PTI, including prominent women activists Sanam Javed and Shah Bano, in connection with the May 9 riots, particularly the attack on the Lahore Corps Commander’s House.
Their release had come after several months of hearings, with their lawyers noting that the prosecution was delaying their release on various pretexts, including by adding new sections to the FIRs registered against them as soon as the court approved their judicial remand. Apart from Javed and Bano, the ATC had also ordered the release on bail—against surety bonds of Rs. 100,000 each—of Robina Jameel, Afshan Tariq, Ashma Shuja, Faisal Akhtar, Qasim, Ali Hasan, and Hussain Qadri.
Local media reported that police, including women personnel, had gathered outside Kot Lakhpat in large numbers when the families of the bailed individuals reached the site to receive the PTI activists. Seeing the police deployment, several families refused to receive their relatives in the hopes that they would not be re-arrested if they remained in prison. However, per lawyers, police re-arrested them as soon as they were released.
The activists were then shifted to the Lytton Road Police Station, with police saying they were wanted in another case related to the May 9 riots.