ISLAMABAD: Former speaker National Assembly and senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser has urged incumbent Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf to take notice of the manhandling of his party’s lawmaker Saleh Mohammad Khan by Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police.

In a letter, addressed to the Speaker National Assembly, Qaiser referred to the photograph of the PTI lawmaker in custody of the ICT police which appeared on Saturday on social media and triggered wide ranging criticism.

Qaiser wrote that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah should be summoned by the National Assembly’s privileges committee in the backdrop of the incident and the inspector-general of Islamabad and others responsible should be suspended.

He said that the ICT police violated the rules and regulations on October 21, adding that the police released a photograph of the PTI MNA with a white slate inscribed with his details around his neck, in an insulting manner.

The former speaker of the National Assembly said that the mistreatment has caused pain to the lawmaker, his family and the party. “As the leader of the House, it is necessary for you to take notice of this action by the police,” he further urged the Speaker National Assembly.

He also asked the Speaker to investigate the lawmaker’s arrest and the insulting behaviour of the ICT police. “The Speaker should take strict action against those responsible,” he further wrote in the letter.

Qaiser further stated that the Constitution guarantees complete protection of life, property, dignity, and honour of the citizens.

Earlier on October 21, ICT police took the PTI lawmaker into custody and his two security guards from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, under terrorism charges for allegedly shooting at the police contingent deployed outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) soon after the ECP disqualified PTI chairman Imran Khan in Toshakhana case.

Saleh Mohammad Khan, a PTI MNA from Mansehra, was booked on the charges of attempted murder, violation of Section 144 and abutment, on the complaint of PML-N leader Mohsin Shawnawz who alleged that Saleh’s gunmen opened fire to wound him fatally.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022