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

An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Saturday discharged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Yasmin Rashid in the Jinnah House attack case and ordered her immediate release from prison, Aaj News reported.

Judge Abher Gul Khan ordered the PTI leader’s release.

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.”

Rashid was among the PTI leaders who were taken into custody under section three of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

The former Punjab health minister was facing charges of hate speech against state institutions and involvement in attacks on Jinnah House during the May 9 protests.

On May 13, the LHC had ordered her immediate release, saying that if she is not required in any criminal case, then she should be released.

However, the PTI leader was again arrested.

On May 29, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore had sent the PTI leader to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in the same case.

Reacting to the development, the PTI claimed that party leader Yasmin Rashid was kept in jail for 24 days “in a fake case to spread propaganda in the media”.

“Dr Yasmin Rashid is an elderly woman with cancer who spent her entire life as a doctor saving people’s lives. As a minister, she saved millions of lives during the Covid epidemic,” it added.