ISLAMABAD: Ten PTI MNAs arrested from the Parliament House’s premises in a late-night raid earlier this week were presented in the National Assembly after their production orders were issued.
Just after 3am on Tuesday, plainclothesmen had stormed the Parliament House — disconnecting the power supply and barging into the building’s Services Branch — to whisk away at least 10 PTI legislators.
In light of the subsequent outcry by the PTI in the NA, Sadiq suspended five security staff for four months and transferred five officials of the Capital Development Authority — serving in the assembly on deputation — for disconnecting the building’s power during the ‘raid’.
A four-member committee headed by Additional Secretary Iftikhar Ahmad has been constituted to probe security arrangements and the “unauthorised movements” in the parliament.
A day ago, Sadiq had issued production orders for the MNAs in police custody — namely Sher Afzal Marwat (NA-41), Malik Amir Dogar (NA-49), Ahmed Chattha (NA-66), Zain Qureshi (NA-50), Sheikh Waqas Akram (NA-109), Zubair Khan Wazir (NA-42), Awais Haider Jakhar (NA-182), Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah (NA-33), Nasim Ali Shah (NA-39) and Yousuf Khan Khattak (NA-36).
Subsequently, the Islamabad police presented them in the NA today amid high security.Videos shared by the PTI on social media platform X showed MNA Ali Muhammad Khan — who gave a fiery speech in the NA on Tuesday — receiving his party colleagues.
Chants of “Imran Khan” could be heard as the detained lawmakers — including Dogar, Marwat and Qureshi — appeared out of a vehicle.In a separate development, the 10 PTI lawmakers were now on judicial remand after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended a court verdict of their physical custody.
On Tuesday, an Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) had handed over the PTI MNAs and several other workers to Sangjani police for eight days on physical remand, rejecting the request for a 17-day custody.Today, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz took up a set of petitions filed on behalf of the detained lawmakers.
