Lahore Capital City Police on Friday secured a warrant to search Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence.
This follows a Capital City Police Officer’s (CCPO) claims of arresting six more “terrorists” attempting to flee from Khan’s residence in Lahore. According to CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana, four of the alleged terrorists were involved in the Askari Tower attack while the other two were among those who ransacked the Corps Commander House on May 9. The total number of arrests now stands at 14.
On Wednesday, the Punjab government had claimed that “30-40 terrorists were hiding inside” the former Prime Minister’s residence and gave the PTI 24 hours to to hand them over or face action.
Eight of these alleged terrorists had previously been arrested while escaping the Zaman Park area on Thursday.
According to sources, the Punjab government decided to send a team to hold talks with PTI leadership before conducting the operation. A negotiation team headed by Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa is slated to reach Zaman Park after the Friday prayers to conduct the search.
Punjab’s Interim Information Minister Amir Mir said the team will decide a time with Khan and search the property in the presence of cameras. A contingent of nearly 400 officers is expected to accompany the team “to arrest terrorists holed up there.”
Meanwhile, Khan took to Twitter to air his concerns: “The mindset behind this unprecedented crackdown and current reign of terror that PTI and its supporters are being subjected to (that was not even witnessed during Zia and Musharraf martial laws) is that we Pakistanis are like a herd of sheep who can be terrorised enough to meekly bow down to this naked show of power.”