CM Hamza Shahbaz says 'issued orders to release Shireen Mazari'

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz has said that he issued orders to the Rawalpindi police to release Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shireen Mazari, ARY News reported on Friday.

CM Hamza Shahbaz said in a statement that Shireen Mazari is a respectable woman to him and he ordered the police to release her. He added that arresting a woman was against social values.

The Punjab chief minister, however, said that if it is inevitable to arrest someone for interrogation, then the law will find its way.

He said that he does not agree with arresting Mazari and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) believes in respecting women as a political party.

“I have directed the Rawalpindi police to release Shireen Mazari,” said Hamza Shahbaz.

Sources told ARY News that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) officials received the orders from Punjab’s Chief Minister’s Office to release Mazari.

READ: SHIREEN MAZARI ARREST: PTI ANNOUNCES COUNTRYWIDE PROTESTS

An ACE team has departed for Islamabad to bring Mazari back to the federal capital. Sources said that the PTI politician will be released soon.

Sources added that Mazari will be produced before a magistrate in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Earlier, Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab and Islamabad police in a joint action arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) leader and former federal minister Shireen Mazari from outside her house.

The news was confirmed by PTI leader Iftikhar Durrani on his Twitter handle. The former SAPM asked the PTI leaders and workers to reach Kohsar police station.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad police in its statement said that Shireen Mazari was booked in a property case registered in DG Khan. The former minister has been shifted to DG Khan from Islamabad’s Kohsar police station.

A case was registered against Mazari in DG Khan over a 129-acre land dispute and despite repeated requests, she did not appear, sources said.