National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday summoned Islamabad’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) for arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders within the jurisdiction of the parliament.
The police detained several PTI lawmakers and leaders, including party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, in raids a day after it held a major rally in Islamabad to demand PTI founding chairman Imran Khan’s release.
While Barrister Gohar was released today, the court approved an eight-day physical remand of other party leaders, including Sher Afzal Marwat, Zain Qureshi, and Aamir Dogar. Meanwhile, Shoaib Shaheen was sent to jail on judicial remand.
According to parliamentary rules, the police have to inform the NA speaker before arresting any MNA. However, the police took no prior approval before apprehending PTI lawmakers.
KPK CM Gandapur back in Peshawar, PTI criticises govt for arresting party leaders
Consequently, Sadiq summoned IGP Rizvi and the senior superintendent of police (SSP).
Earlier in the day, PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan lambasted the government over the arrest of his fellow party leaders.
“Your colleagues Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Shafqat Awan, Amir Dogar, Shiekh Waqar Akram, and Maulana Naseem were seeking shelter in this parliament last night when they were arrested,” he said, adding that Maulana Naseem was picked up while he was performing Namaz in a mosque.
In response, the speaker sought video footage from all the exit points of the parliament so that the responsibility could be assigned accordingly.
“If whatever my colleagues are saying happened in the parliament then we have to take action against that,” the speaker said, adding that he would not sit quietly.
He added that — if he had to — he would file the first information report (FIR) against the arrests himself.
“We have to take it up seriously and this is not going to be something we’d take lightly” he reaffirmed.
Arrests ‘attack on parliament’: Barrister Gohar
Talking to the media after his release, Barrister Gohar said that the arrest of PTI MNAs was an attack on the parliament and urged the NA speaker to probe the matter in depth.
He said September 9 will go down in history as a “black day for Pakistan”.
“PTI will not forget this”, he said. “This time, CCTV footage will be disclosed and this time, the common person will not be punished.”
The PTI chairman went on to say that if the “largest political party” was not given space, then non-political elements would get stronger. “Extremist and separatist movements will get stronger,” Gohar added.
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