LAHORE – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azhar said on Sunday that Punjab Police and some men in plainclothes took away his 82 years old ailing father Mian Muhammad Azhar to an “undisclosed location”.
In a tweet around Sunday midnight, Hammad Azhar wrote, “My father, Mian Muhammad Azhar, 82 years of age with multiple health conditions, has just been taken by police and some unknown people to an undisclosed location.”
My father, Mian Muhammad Azhar, 82 years of age with multiple health conditions, has just been taken by police and some unknown people to an undisclosed location.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) June 4, 2023
Hammad Azhar, son of former Punjab Governor Mian Muhammad Azhar, has been one of the key federal ministers in Imran Khan’s cabinet from 2018 to 2022. As dozens of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were allegedly forced to quit the party after the May 9 riots, Hammad Azhar is one of the few who have put up resistance and refused to be herded.
Hammad Azhar, Secretary General of the PTI Central Punjab, has been in hiding since May 9 due to the police raids on his house. He tweeted a few days ago that Punjab Police raided his house and told his father that he and his daughter would be picked up if Hammad doesn’t surrender to the police.
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On Saturday, Hammad said the PTI was interested in holding a dialogue with the “real-decision makers” only for the sake of restoration of the Constitution and democracy. He tweeted that the PTI extended the talks offer only to real decision-makers and not the “puppets [rulers] imposed on the nation”.
He made this statement in reaction to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s tweet where he ruled out talks with Imran Khan’s PTI.