LAHORE: Failing to arrest PTI leader and former provincial minister Mian Aslam Iqbal despite several raids, the police reportedly arrested his nephew on Wednesday.

Sources said the police teams conducted several raids to arrest the ex-minister, wanted in the May 9 Jinnah House attack case, in Iqbal Town, but to no avail.

After unsuccessful raids, the police reportedly arrested Hamza Akram, a nephew of Aslam Iqbal, and shifted him to an undisclosed place for interrogation.

Sources say that earlier the police had also picked Hamza’s father, allegedly to pressurise the PTI leader into courting arrest.

According to the sources, the former Punjab minister had gone underground since the police registered the Jinnah House attack case and nominated him in the FIR, besides other party leaders.

The police had alleged in the FIR that Aslam Iqbal was carrying weapon while leading a charged mob of the PTI workers that attacked the Jinnah House in Lahore Cantonment area on May 9.

They further alleged that Aslam Iqbal also shot a man dead while moving towards the residence of the Lahore corps commander.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2023