Lahore: The granddaughter of Pakistan’s former Army Chief Asif Nawaz Jangua was arrested as a “key instigator” in the attack on the Corps Commander House here following former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest May 9, police said Wednesday.
Khadija Shah, a fashion designer by profession, is among the several women arrested for their alleged involvement in attacks on military installations May 9 that erupted in the wake of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief’s arrest in a corruption case. Khan, 70, was later freed on bail.
Lahore police said in a statement that Shah, the daughter of former finance minister Salman Shah, was one of the key instigators of the May 9 attack on the Lahore Corps Commander House, also known as Jinnah House. She has been arrested under terrorism charges and might be tried under the Army Act, police said.
Shah, an active PTI supporter, had gone into hiding since police started carrying out raids for her arrest.
“Ms Shah was produced before the anti-terrorism court Lahore which was sent to jail for an identification parade,” police said.
The government declared that the identification of more than 500 women, wanted for the May 9 incidents, has been completed and 138 cases have been registered against them.
Law enforcement agencies arrested around 8,000 people across the country, mostly party leaders and workers of the PTI for their alleged involvement in the violence that erupted in the wake of Khan’s arrest by paramilitary Rangers in Islamabad.
Khan’s party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander’s house, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.
Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has placed the names of 700 PTI leaders and activists on a no-fly list.
PTI