Hamid Raza ‘surrenders’ to the police in the case on May 9

FAISALABAD:

Chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and former member of the National Assembly, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, has been taken into police custody and shifted to Faisalabad Central Jail to serve a 10-year prison sentence.

Earlier, his brother Sahibzada Hassan Raza said that Hamid Raza had been detained by the police while he was traveling from Peshawar to Faisalabad. However, a post on Hamid Raza’s X account stated that he had traveled to Faisalabad to surrender to the authorities.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed to the media outside Parliament that “Hamid Raza surrendered himself—it was entirely his own decision.”

PTI’s Omar Ayub Khan also wrote about the situation and claimed that Hamid Raza was “abducted” last night in Islamabad.

“Sahibzada Hamid Raza sahib, my dear friend and colleague, has been abducted from Islamabad late last night while he was on his way to surrender in the sentence handed down by an anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad.”

Read: PTI men convicted in several May 9 cases

In his latest post on X, Hamid Raza stated that he had appeared in an anti-terrorism court (atc) in Faisalabad and then transferred to the central jail in Faisalabad to await the court’s decision.

In July, an ATC in Faisalabad had charged Raza along with several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul, in a case registered in the wake of May 9.

Hamid Raza was wanted in several cases of vandalism and violent protests and has already been sentenced by an atc with 10 years in prison. The case was reported at the Civile Linjers police station.

Read more: Hamid Raza is leaving the TTAP office

Sahibzada Hamid Raza had been elected as Member of National Assembly (MNA) from Faisalabad’s NA-104 constituency in the general election. Following his disqualification due to the verdict, the Election Commission has issued a schedule for a by-election in his constituency. The vote is scheduled to take place on 23 November.

Two days before Hamid Raza’s arrest, former PTI MPA Junaid Afzal Sahi from Faisalabad’s PP-98 constituency – who had been sentenced to three years in prison in the case on May 9 – also surrendered himself to the authorities and was subsequently sent to jail.

On 9 May 2023, PTI lawmakers and supporters attacked military installations across Pakistan in the wake of Imran’s arrest by paramilitary Rangers.

Later, the government launched a heavy-handed crackdown on the former ruling party while registering FIRs against thousands of people, including PTI founder Imran Khan.

Over 100 PTI workers and supporters were also handed over to military authorities for their trial in military courts.