Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including party chairman Barrister Gohar, were arrested by Islamabad police on Monday after receiving prior approval from National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, along with Sher Afzal Marwat and Shoaib Shaheen, were taken into custody, while MNAs Zain Qureshi and Sheikh Waqas Akram were arrested from within the Parliament House by the Capital police.
In addition to these arrests, police also detained several other individuals, including Owais Ahmed Chatha, Syed Shah Ahmed, Sunni Ittehad Council's Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Yousaf Khan, Maulana Naseem Shah, and Ahmed Shah Khattak.
According to sources, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had given permission for the arrest of PTI MNAs outside the Parliament premises after police submitted a copy of the FIR lodged against the lawmakers. The FIR was related to violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) during a public rally held on September 8.
Furthermore, three separate cases have been registered under the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill in Islamabad, citing violations of the rally’s no-objection certificate (NOC). The FIR lists 28 individuals, including PTI leaders Barrister Gohar Ali, Sher Afzal Marwat, Shoaib Shaheen, Omar Gul, Zartaj Gul, Aamir Mughal, Seemabia Tahir, and Raja Basharat.
In a related development, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister safely returned to the CM House after being absent for seven hours during the crackdown on PTI leaders.
