PTI leaders Barrister Gohar, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, and others were arrested by Islamabad police outside parliament on Monday night, a police official confirmed.
Islamabad police spokesperson Jawad Taqi told Dawn.com that Marwat, Shoaib Shaheen, and Barrister Gohar had been arrested.
Referring to Marwat’s arrest, who was reportedly the first to be taken into custody, the PTI said in a post on X that the “PMLN government should be completely ashamed of this step against a sitting MNA.”
“This must be considered a direct attack on democracy,” the post said.
The party accused the capital police of carrying out “illegal orders” and called on the inspector general of police (IG) Islamabad to “stop this act”.
In another post on X, PTI condemned the “illegal” arrest of party chairman Barrister Gohar
“This is a moment of shame for entire parliament, as this must be considered a direct attack on the remaining democracy in Pakistan.
“Speaker NA should be ashamed for allowing such disrespect of parliament. Pakistan has descended further into the undeclared Martial Law,” the post said.
A statement on X from Marwat’s account said: “The state has once again proved how afraid it is of (Imran) Khan and his soldiers!”
“Remember that the person they are dragging this badly is not a terrorist or murderer. His only sin is that he considers Imran Khan his mentor, raises his voice for the poor, raises his voice for Pakistan, talks about the supremacy of democracy, the freedom of Pakistanis, and rule of law!” the statement on X read.
PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari strongly condemned the arrests, saying they should be released immediately.
“Over a year now and they are still using the same tactics that have failed again and again,” he said in a statement on X.
“These illegal arrests won’t change anything. Only increase the public’s anger and hate towards this puppet government and backers.”
According to Dawn News TV, Marwat was arrested by police for being involved in “multiple cases” and taken to an unknown location by police, who did not comment on the development.
PTI leaders have been in the spotlight for the past 24 hours following the party’s much-awaited September 8 rally in Islamabad.
PML-N Senator Talal Chaudhry on Monday vowed legal action against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for leading party supporters who “attacked and pelted stones” at Islamabad police at last night’s rally.
Chungi No 26, on the outskirts of the capital, turned into a battleground on Sunday night as police clashed with PTI supporters after the latter allegedly refused to stick to the designated routes for the public gathering in Sangjani.
A dispute with the district administration over the agreed timeframe for the event also caused consternation among official circles.
Police claimed that PTI supporters ignored the traffic instructions and insisted on using the route set for the general public, which caused tensions to rise before PTI supporters started pelting police with stones.
In response, the police party retaliated and resorted to baton charge and tear gas shelling. Dozens of protesters were also arrested and bundled into prison vans, and were later taken to different police installations.
In a televised address today, Chaudhry said: “Once again, the Islamabad police was deliberately attacked by the people who had come to Islamabad under the leadership of the KP chief minister.
“Not only will those who attacked and pelted stones but also their mastermind will be arrested and sent to jail over this chaos,” he asserted.
Chaudhry said: “No one stopped them (PTI supporters). No policeman stood in their way. There was no obstruction [yet] they attacked the police on purpose in a botched attempt to hide their failed jalsa.
“Not only will the law take its course but in the coming days, I see his future from being the KP chief minister to going to the Adiala Jail,” the PML-N senator said.
Ahead of the PTI event, the Islamabad administration had taken extraordinary security measures and blocked all the entry points of the city with containers.
Addressing Gandapur, the PML-N lawmaker said it was “not possible that you threaten the institutions and the parliament that we will not let things run”.
“We have vowed that we will not let political incitement continue […]. No matter how much legislation we have to do to achieve this or give strict punishments, we will do so,” Chaudhry affirmed.
More to follow
