Surfacing after months: Hammad Azhar evades police arrest in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Hammad Azhar resurfaced in public on Wednesday almost a year after he went into hiding in the wake of a crackdown on the party members following May 9 incidents.

“Yesterday, I received a message from the PTI founder that it’s time to come out of hiding,” said Azhar as he visited the PTI’s Central Secretariat office in Islamabad.

The PTI leader said he would go to Peshawar to secure pre-arrest bail as he has been booked in several cases in connection with the May 9 riots. “All leaders including Murad Saeed will come out of hiding,” he added.

As soon as the authorities came to know about the PTI leader’s whereabouts, Islamabad police personnel surrounded the party’s secretariat in the federal capital to arrest him. However, Azhar left the party’s office before the arrival of the police.

In a post on X, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub condemned the police raid on the PTI’s office. “Raoof Hassan sahib’s attackers have not been traced or arrested yet, but the police ‘miraculously ‘ came to know that Hammad Azhar had visited PTI’s Central Office,” he said. Azhar also posted a picture of him with PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, who suffered facial injury after “transgender persons” attacked him in the face using blade. “You attack one, you attack all!” he wrote in the caption.