LAHORE: The Racecourse police lodged a case against 13 PTI workers, including an aide to the party chairman Imran Khan, for offering resistance during the arrest of their party chief at Zaman Park on Saturday.

The police nominated Awais Khan Niazi, Ali Zia, Junaid Khan Niazi, Tabassum Iqbal, Mehmood Qadri, Ilyas, Zaman, Muhammad Iqbal, Islam Badshah, Awais Khan, Behram, Sajjad Ali etc in the case. Of them, Awais Khan Niazi is a close aide to Imran and runs the party chief media cell.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Inspector Rehan Anwar who alleged that when police reached the Zaman Park residence of Imran Khan to arrest him in the wake of the court’s decision on Saturday, the suspects mentioned above attacked the policemen.

It said Awais Khan Niazi and Ali Zia hurled threats at police, attacked and snatched the official guns from the policemen. They later pointed weapons at the police and threatened to kill them, the complainant said, adding that some police officers told the suspects that they were following the court orders for the arrest of Imran.

However, the suspects kept threatening the police, Inspector Rehan alleged in the FIR, saying that the police later overpowered and arrested them. The suspects were sent behind the bars after lodging the case against them.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2023