Pakistan's former army chief's grand-daughter re-arrested as she walks out of Lahore jail

Lahore, Nov 17 (PTI) The granddaughter of a former Pakistan Army chief and a leader of ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s party who was arrested for her alleged involvement in the May 9 violence was re-arrested on Friday soon after she was released from jail here.

Khadija Shah, Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua’s granddaughter and a fashion designer by profession, was detained for a period of 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance as soon as she came out of Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail in Punjab province.

'Her release may cause a law-and-order situation in the province,' the Punjab police said.

Shah had been in jail for the last six months in connection with attacks on the Lahore Corps Commander House and the plaza owned by the son of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa here.

At least 10,000 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leaders and workers were arrested across the country for allegedly attacking and setting ablaze the state and military installations including the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi and the ISI building in Faisalabad city on May 9 following the cricketer-turned-politician's arrest in a corruption case by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Shah got bail in all four terrorism cases and the anti-terrorism court of Lahore on Friday ordered her immediate release.

However, as she walked free from jail, a heavy contingent of police reached outside the Kot Lakhpat Jail and arrested her in a public order ordinance.

The Lahore deputy commissioner has issued her detention order.

Meanwhile, Shah has been booked in another terrorism case related to the May 9 violence in Peshawar.

The re-arrest of May 9 suspects has become a new normal in Pakistan as PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and dozens of other leaders are among those who secured bail in a number of terrorism cases related to the 'Black Day' violence but re-arrested as soon as they walked out of jail.

Earlier, Shah had written an open letter from jail seeking “empathy and humanity” for the party’s 19 women prisoners including herself.

Shah said she had been incarcerated for over four months for “peacefully participating” in the May 9 protest.

“Each PTI woman prisoner at Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore has borne unimaginable punishment,' she said.

Writing about the plight of 18 “innocent women” imprisoned alongside her, Shah said: “These women prisoners have no access to the world and are unable to share their plight; their families desperately struggling to balance the demands of life without them.” “The women incarcerated with me have suffered unbearable circumstances, and they are waiting for the world to take notice and speak for them. These 18 women in captivity are not just 18 women. They are 18 homes, 18 families, and countless lives completely shattered and at a standstill. I want to share the tragedy that is unfolding with each passing day to elicit the empathy and humanity that must exist in us all,” the letter read.

She said the stories of separation, pain and suffering of May 9 prisoners were endless.

“Whether we are supporters of a political party or members of an institution, we are all Pakistanis and one people,” she wrote.

A number of PTI party's women supporters and leaders were also detained despite appeals that mercy should be shown to them.

However, the military establishment declared that all those involved in attacking the army installations would face the music irrespective of their gender.

Gen Janjua served as the fourth Chief of Army Staff from August 1991 until his death in January 1993. PTI MZ PY PY PY