A heavy police presence has been deployed outside the Parliament House, and the entry and exit points to the Red Zone have been closed.
PTI leaders Barrister Gohar, Marwat arrested as crackdown begins for ‘violating’ public gathering law. Islamabad Police on Monday arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and Sher Afzal Marwat from outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.
Federal capital police say that PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan and Zartaj Gul Wazir will also be detained.
Marwat resisted arrest and asked the police to show him the arrest warrant.
A heavy police force was deployed outside the Parliament while entry and exit routes to the red zone from D Chowk, Nadra Chowk, Sarina and Marriott were also closed, apart from Margalla Road.
However, PTI MNA Ali Muhammad Khan was not detained by the police while leaving the Parliament.
Marwat was arrested for violating regulations framed under a new law – the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024, sources told Geo News, adding that a day on the PTI lawmaker. Earlier there was an allegation of a clash with the policemen.
Sources said that apart from Umar and Zartaj, more PTI leaders including party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Hammad Azhar, Kanwal Shozab, Naeem Haider Panjotha, Aamir Mughal and Khalid Khurshid will also be arrested.
Several PTI legislators are currently present in the Parliament House, including Gohar, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Zain Qureshi and Shahid Khattak.
He further said that the Islamabad Police was expected to launch a crackdown against the former ruling party Punjab leaders who participated in yesterday’s power show.
It came to light that the Islamabad Police formally informed the higher officials of Punjab regarding the operations.
In another operation, Shoaib Shaheen was also arrested from his residence.
The police registered cases against several leaders of Imran’s founded party under the newly enacted Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill 2024 in Noon and Sangjani police stations.
28 local leaders including Semabia Tahir and Raja Basharat are also named in the cases.
The First Information Report (FIR) said that PTI accused activists of attacking police teams with sticks and stones who tried to stop them from violating the route of the Islamabad rally.
It added that the police personnel on security duty resorted to shelling of tear gas and arrested 17 party workers from the spot.
