A cause celebre after her arrest in connection with the incidents of May 9, PTI supporter and fashion designer Khadija Shah had finally obtained bail in a fifth case from the trial court, for her to be detained by the Lahore district administration under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, for a period of 30 days. Interestingly, the law in question, like much of the coercive legal apparatus, may be blamed on the Raj, but actually was promulgated by the Ayub Martial Law regime in 1960. The order by the DC Lahore appears to oppose itself to the bail decision by the trial court, for it claims that there is evidence of her commission of the crime she is accused of. Specifically, she has been accused of having taken part in the attacks on such Army installations as the Corps Commander’s residence. That the trial courts do not find enough evidence to keep her in detention gives credence to the fact that like many others she was nothing more than a peaceful participant in the May 9 protests. However, the DC Lahore, who seems more easily convinced by the evidence against her, has decided to detain her.
Ms Shah is a prominent PTI supporter, not least because she is the daughter of a former federal caretaker minister and granddaughter of a COAS. Her arrest was seen as an example of the kind of determination of the Army to punish the perpetrators of the May 9 attacks. She would deserve punishment, but only after conviction by a court of law. For that, evidence must be produced. That is something at which the prosecutors have been traditionally incompetent. Or is it that a message is being sent to Ms Shah’s class, privileged urbanites who support the PTI? The message being not only that support for the PTI is dangerous, but that the state need not have evidence to keep anyone it wants behind bars.
Ms Shah is not an isolated case. There is a whole group of PTI women supporters behind bars, including former Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, accused of involvement in the May 9 incidents. Her failure to win release even after getting bail is thus problematic not just for her, but also for these other women. More dangerous is the fact that the executive seems complicit in this attempt by certain forces at setting such an example just before the February 8 polls.
