The Islamabad police on Wednesday raided the PTI Secretariat to arrest former finance minister Hammad Azhar after he showed up a year after going into hiding to avoid arrest following the May 9 riots, Aaj News reported.

The police, however, failed to arrest Azhar who managed to escape before the police’s arrival.

According to a report submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC) in December last year, as many as 14 cases were registered against the former federal minister.

“I, along with other party leaders, were sitting when we were informed that police entered the office without any warrant,” PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hassan said in a video shared by the party on social media platform X.

Upon inquiring, he said that the federal capital police were after Azhar. “When we asked them for a warrant, they said who are you to ask us for it?”

Azhar had come to the fore after almost a year away from the public eye. He went into hiding last year after a crackdown against the party leadership last year following the May 9 events.

“I received a message from Imran Khan last night after the attack on Raoof Hassan. He directed that it is now time for me to join the party leadership,” he said in a brief interaction with media personnel after arriving at the party central secretariat in Islamabad.

He said that he showed up at the office to meet Hassan. “I will then go to Peshawar and seek interim bails and request more time. I will also appear in Punjab courts and will then leave the matter to the Almighty. After the kind of attack on Raoof Hassan, I don’t think it’s right to stay hidden anymore.”

Azhar stated that he would fight all the cases against him in Punjab courts, adding: “I’m not guilty in any of them.”