Case filed against Imran Khan and 1500 PTI workers for attacking army officer’s house

Lahore: Pakistan’s Punjab Police has booked former Prime Minister Imran Khan and 1,500 workers of his party for attacking and setting ablaze the residence of a top army officer in Lahore. Angry over the arrest of their leader in a corruption case on Tuesday, supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan stormed into the Army General Headquarters on Wednesday. They attacked army vehicles and installations and torched the Lahore Corps Commander’s residence. PTI chairman, vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others have been booked under murder, terrorism and 20 other heinous offenses for attacking the corps commander’s residence, known as ‘Jinnah House’, in Lahore Cantonment on Tuesday.

Khan and others have also been accused of looting valuables worth Rs 15 crore from Jinnah House. According to the FIR lodged on Wednesday, two people died in the attack. It said that 1,500 PTI workers and leaders attacked the Army officer’s residence at the behest of Khan and other senior party leaders. Following Khan’s arrest in a corruption case in Islamabad on Tuesday by Pakistani Rangers, his supporters attacked the residences of senior officers and Pakistan Army installations in different parts of the country.

PTI supporters blamed the army for Khan’s arrest. The Punjab Police has also registered several separate FIRs against the PTI leadership and its workers for injuring police officers, damaging and looting public property, and raising “highly objectionable” slogans against the Pakistan Army. Protesters torched Askari Tower in Gulbarga area on Wednesday. This tower is said to be the son of former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The police have booked 1,200 PTI workers for the murder of a person during the burning and looting of the tower. They have also named Khan in this case saying that he had a hand in the attack. The protesters also torched the Shadman police station in Lahore. Police and Rangers foiled their attempt to enter the Governor’s House and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Lahore. Meanwhile, the police claimed to have arrested 76 of Khan’s supporters who attacked the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. An FIR has also been registered against 300 people, including PTI’s main regional leader Basharat Raza. According to the Punjab Police, over 1,400 people have been arrested across the province in the wake of the violence.