LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Former PTI Punjab leader Hammad Azhar – who had been in hiding to evade arrest for several months now – has been arrested from Multan, his party claimed on Sunday.

While police officials said they were unaware of his arrest, party sources claimed the PTI leader was taken into custody in Multan over a case pertaining to the May 9 riots.

Replying to a query, Multan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Usman Akram Gondal told Dawn that he was unaware of any such arrest.

Mr Azhar, who is the son of former Punjab governor Mian Muhammad Azhar, is wanted by Lahore police in connection with a case regarding an attack on the Govt Officers’ Residences (GOR-I) gate on May 9, 2023.

Multan and Lahore police deny his custody; party demands he should be produced in court

According to reports circulating online, the PTI leader was handed over to Lahore police over his alleged involvement in the May 9 case.

However, Lahore Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigations Muhammad Naveed also said that he had no confirmation about Mr Azhar’s arrest, or handover to Lahore police.

In its statement, the PTI termed the former finance minister’s arrest “the worst example of political vengeance and fascism”.

The party demanded that he be immediately presented in court if there was a criminal case against him, his fundamental and legal rights be ensured, and the “series of political vengeance be halted”.

“Hammad Azhar is being continuously targeted with retaliatory actions on political grounds. The government is recklessly using state power to suppress political opponents and silence the voice of PTI,” it alleged.

Conflicting accounts

Reports of Mr Azhar’s arrest circulated widely on social media and WhatsApp groups, with different accounts emerging about where and when he was taken into custody.

One version claimed that Mr Azhar was arrested at a police check-post in Multan while he was on his way to visit his father-in-law in the Cantonment area.

Those narrating the account claimed that he showed his identity card at a check-post, where he was identified as an absconder in a May 9 case, and was taken into custody on the spot.

Another version claimed that he had actually been arrested on Sept 2 and remained in Multan police custody for four days before being handed over to Lahore police on Sunday, Sept 6, as no case was registered against him in Multan.

There were also reports that Mr Azhar was picked up from the residence of PTI Senator Aon Abbas Bappi in Multan. However, Mr Bappi denied this account.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Bappi said he had last met Mr Azhar at his father’s funeral in July, and was not aware whether Mr Azhar had been arrested or not.

However, PTI leader Omar Ayub and former Punjab CM Parvez Elahi’s son Moonis posted on X about Mr Azhar’s arrest and condemned it in no uncertain terms.

In April 2025, Mr Azhar had stepped down as the president of the PTI’s Punjab chapter for a third time, after his two previous resignations were rejected.

He reappeared in public on May 22, 2024, a year after he had gone into hiding when the state launched a crackdown against the party leadership following the violent incidents of May 9.

The PTI leader had also evaded arrest when the Counter-Terrorism Department raided PTI’s secretariat in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2026