LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) central Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid was allegedly intercepted by the Lahore police who tried to arrest her but in vain on Thursday.

A cancer survivor and septuagenarian, the PTI leader sent a message to the party leadership, stating: “I am in my vehicle and the police have intercepted me in the Jail Road underpass. They want to arrest me without showing any arrest warrants”.

The police blocked Dr Rashid’s car while placing barriers on the road. They stated that they were there to arrest her; however, they could not produce any arrest warrants when she asked for it.

Dr Rashid said she had already got a bail in the Ali Bilal’s torture and murder case. After a large number of PTI workers reached the underpass and cleared the barriers, the policemen left the scene.

Later, talking to the media, Dr Rashid said the male policemen along with a policewoman stopped her vehicle and asked to court arrest.

“As I asked the police from which police station they have come and what is her offence that they want to arrest me, the policemen did not reply,” she said.

PTI’s Hassan Khawar tweeted: “The state is using the state power and police for being afraid of Imran Khan”.

The CCPO spokesman later stated that the Lahore Police was not arresting Dr Rashid. “There is no plan to arrest Dr Rashid,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2023