Shah Mehmood Qureshi released from jail
Islamabad:
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was among some of the top leaders of Imran Khan’s party arrested after the violent May 9 protests, was released from Rawalpindi jail on Tuesday following a court order.
The vice-chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was arrested last month on May 9 on several charges, including inciting violence following the arrest of chairman Imran Khan in a corruption case.
Qureshi, 66, served as Pakistan’s foreign minister from 2018 to 2022 under Khan’s regime.
On Tuesday, the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court ordered the immediate release of the PTI leader and quashed his house arrest order.
On his release from Adiala Jail, Qureshi said he would meet PTI chief Khan at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore on Wednesday and discuss the current political turmoil in the country, according to Geo TV.
“I want to tell PTI workers that the ‘Flag of Justice’ is in my hands and I am still a part of this movement..” local media quoted him as saying upon his release.
Addressing PTI supporters, the former minister said, “These are testing and difficult times, but do not lose hope as there is a dawn after every night.” “I feel there are countless innocent people in various jails who should be released. I will try, and we will pursue their cases after consultation with our legal team,” Dawn newspaper quoted Qureshi as saying.
On 18 May, the Islamabad High Court ordered the release of the former foreign minister.
However, his release was delayed due to his apparent unwillingness to provide an undertaking to avoid involvement in “unruly” protests.
Violent protests broke out in Islamabad on 9 May following Khan’s arrest by paramilitary Rangers.
His party workers vandalized more than 20 military establishments and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, the Mianwali Airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad.
The Army Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.
Khan was later released on bail.
The violence drew a strong response from the government and the military, with a pledge to act against the guilty, which continued to crack down on those involved.
Law enforcement agencies have arrested over 10,000 activists of Khan’s Pakistan Party across Pakistan, 4,000 of them from Punjab province.
The Punjab Home Department has constituted 10 separate Joint Investigation Teams to probe the attacks and violent protests that took place on 9 May, which was termed as “Black Day” by the Army.
Following the events of 9 May, several senior leaders of Khan’s party were taken into custody.
The leaders included Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Shireen Mazari, Maleeka Bukhari, and Fayyazul Hassan Chauhan.
A few days later, several prominent leaders including Fawad, Imran Ismail, Shireen Mazari, Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan, Firdous Ashiq Awan and others quit Khan’s party. Last week, a delegation of former leaders of Khan’s party including Fawad Chaudhry, Imran Ismail, Mehmood Maulvi and Amir Kayani met Qureshi in Adiala Jail and tried to persuade him to part ways with the ousted prime minister.
However, Qureshi’s son Zain Qureshi said that his father only did politics of “principles” and not of “status and greed”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)