Police yet to arrest Barrister Niazi

Despite the assurance of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan that Barrister Hassaan Khan Niazi will be "strictly punished for his wrongdoings", the Punjab police failed to arrest the lawyer during a raid at his house here on Friday.

After examining CCTV footages of the crime scene of Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), the city police by excluding the name of Barrister Hassaan Niazi, a nephew of Prime Minister Imran Khan and son of well-known columnist Hafeezullah Niazi, on Wednesday booked over 250 lawyers (21 of them identified) in two first information reports (FIRs) registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The police, however, did not nominate him in the FIRs. When the criticism grew on both the social and electronic media, a police party raided the residence of Hassaan on Friday but it failed to arrest him as he was "not at home".

Talking to the media, the Punjab Deputy Inspector General of Police (Investigation) said they were using "latest technology" to arrest the lawyer. "We have so far not named Hassan Niazi in the FIRs," the DIG said, adding that Hassaan was "believed to be among the lawyers who attacked the hospital".