National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday summoned Islamabad’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for arresting PTI leaders within the jurisdiction of the parliament.
At least 12 PTI MNAs were arrested in addition to another party leader since last night as law enforcement agencies whisked away key leaders from various parts of Islamabad, including the Parliament House.
According to a parliamentary rule, police have to inform the National Assembly speaker before arresting any MNA, but the law enforcers did not seek permission from the custodian of the house before arresting the MNAs.
Consequently, the speaker summoned IGP Rizvi and the senior superintendent of police (SSP).
Meanwhile, PTI’s chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, was released on Tuesday evening.
“We think that [the arrests] were an attack on parliament,” he said while speaking to reporters in Islamabad. “We believe that, God willing, the NA speaker will go to the depth of the matter.”
Earlier today, in a fiery speech on the floor of the lower house, PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan, who appeared emotionally charged, lambasted the arrests of his fellow party leaders.
Addressing the speaker, Khan said: “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]. Maulana Naseem was picked up from a mosque.
The speaker, in response, said that he had requested the videos from all the exit points of the parliament so that “we can assign responsibility 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.
More to follow
