ATC Lahore orders release of Dr. Yasmin Rashid in Jinnah House attack case

LAHORE, June 03 (SABAH): An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Saturday ordered the release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Punjab President Dr. Yasmin Rashid, who was arrested in connection with the attack on Jinnah House on May 9. ATC Judge Abher Gul Khan issued the order.

The order said: “… perusal of record reveals that neither Dr Yasmin Rashid is nominated in the FIR nor involved through supplementary statement and she was summoned in the case on the disclosure of a co-accused which has no evidentiary value in the eye of the court.”

It added that no “incriminating material” was found against Rashid and ordered her release.

The court, in its detailed verdict, rejected the plea for Yasmin Rashid’s physical remand in case lodged against her at Sarwar Road police station. The court also ordered her release if she had not been booked in any other case. The verdict stated that no evidence was found against Yasmin Rashid.

In an unprecedented show of vandalism on May 9, protestors allegedly belonging to the PTI vandalised public and private properties and even attacked the Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander’s residence, a historic building which was once the Lahore residence of the founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The attack took place hours after paramilitary Rangers personnel arrested PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, later retitled as the £190 million National Crime Agency scandal, on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau, from the Islamabad High Court premises.

Hearing the case on Saturday, the court discharged PTI Central Punjab President Dr. Yasmin Rashid from the case and directed authorities to release her immediately. Rejecting the police’s request for Dr. Yasmin Rashid’s physical remand, the ATC ordered the removal of her name from FIR number 96/23 registered at the Sarwar Road Police Station.

Following the court’s orders, the police removed her name from the FIR. She was presented before the court upon the police’s request to demand her custody.

It should be noted that Yasmin Rashid was transferred to Services Hospital in Lahore due to deteriorating health. The Model Town Division police had reached the hospital to arrest her.