Jinnah House attack suspect Khadija Shah says she’ll surrender to police

ISLAMABAD: Khadija Shah, the alleged prime suspect of the attack on Jinnah House, has announced to surrender before the authorities amid the crackdown on rioters involved in damaging and torching public and military installations across the country on May 9, Geo News reported.

Khadija, the daughter of former finance minister Salman Shah, is accused of leading the attack on Lahore Corps Commander’s House, also known as Jinnah House, during the May 9 mayhem.

Claiming to be a supporter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), she had been in hiding ever since the authorities launched the crackdown to arrest the accused involved in ransacking public and military installations following party Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest in a graft case.

“I am going to surrender to the police. I have taken this decision because the last five days remained very tough for me,” she said in an alleged audio message that emerged on social media on Sunday.

In the over 16 minutes-long audio message, Khadija admitted that she was a PTI supporter and was part of the protest outside the Lahore Corps Commander’s House but denied committing any wrongdoing, including inciting people to violence.

“They (authorities) barged into my house at midnight and abducted my husband and father. They roughed up my husband in front of our children... my domestic workers were also subjected to torture,” she claimed. The PTI supporter went on to say she did not violate any law or Constitution of the country and added that she participated in many PTI protests for the last of one year.

She also disclosed that she was a dual citizen and trying to get help from the embassy. “The Punjab government is trying to build a case on me that I am the prime suspect and mastermind of the May 9 vandalism,” she said while accusing the provincial authorities of victimisation. “I am neither an office bearer nor a worker of the PTI. I protested in an individual capacity as a supporter of Imran Khan,” she added.

Sharing her version of events that led to the attack on Jinnah House, Khadija said she joined the PTI procession at Liberty Chowk in Lahore to protest against the arrest of the former prime minister, who was removed from power last year. “I also met Andleeb Abbas (PTI leader) and I was later told that they (protesters) were heading towards the Corps Commander’s House to stage a protest there,” she added.

The PTI supporter said there was nothing wrong in staging a protest outside any location in any democratic country. “I and Andleeb tried to stop the protesters from ransacking... but the crowd was getting larger and there were just a few organisers,” she claimed.

Moreover, Khadija said she did not cross the barricade of Jinnah House and incite anyone to violence. However, she admitted that she had posted videos of the ransacking of the Corps Commander’s House on Twitter to show the people what was happening as there was a media blackout.

“Yasmeen Rahsid [senior leader of PTI] told me that the protest outside the Corps Commander’s House would continue till the release of Imran Khan,” she added.