Ishaq Dar faces resignation call after grandson's arrest in Lahore rape case

Lahore,UPDATED: Jul 4, 2026 16:16 IST

Pakistani senator Faisal Vawda has demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar after a relative of Dar was arrested in a case involving the alleged abduction and gangrape of two foreign women in Lahore. Vawda also accused the federal government and the Punjab provincial government of protecting the minister’s relative in the case.

The two women, one from the Netherlands and the other from Venezuela, were allegedly abducted by a group of men on June 29 and gangraped in Lahore. Police have arrested four men and said one more is absconding. A Lahore court on Friday sent the arrested men to five-day police custody. One of them, Muhammad Raza Dar, has been identified as the prime suspect.

Police sources said Raza Dar is Ishaq Dar’s grandson. During the investigation, police said it emerged that Raza Dar had met the two women in Singapore last year and that they were partners in a cryptocurrency venture. Police said he arranged business visas for them to visit Pakistan.

Vawda, who is seen as having close links to Pakistan’s military establishment, said Pakistan was being “run like a family corporation” as he referred to the gangrape case and described the prime suspect as the “alleged grandson” of Ishaq Dar. “He (Raza Dar) was arrested only after the intervention of the relevant foreign embassy. After such serious allegations, how can Ishaq Dar continue to represent Pakistan before the world as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister?” Vawda said in a post on X. “If there is any concern for Pakistan and its international image, Ishaq Dar should resign immediately,” he said.

Vawda was elected as a senator with the votes of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the coalition partners in the federal government, though he does not represent any political party. He further said, “Attempts are being made to limit the case to extortion rather than rape, while arrangements are underway to send the foreign victims back to their country as quickly as possible.” He also drew attention to the fact that the government and politicians from the ruling party had not yet issued any statement condemning the incident.

The case has drawn political attention in Pakistan after the arrest of a man identified by police sources as Ishaq Dar’s grandson, with Vawda calling for the deputy prime minister’s resignation and alleging efforts to protect the accused and shift the focus of the case.

With PTI Inputs

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