Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has reached Peshawar after being unreachable for hours, PTI members said on Tuesday, while a party official claimed that a total of six MNAs had been arrested since last night.
Meanwhile, the PTI, after initially claiming that a dozen of its leaders had been arrested in raids since Monday night, later said that six MNAs were arrested, in addition to party leader Shoaib Shaheen.
On Monday night, a day after the PTI held its Sangjani power show, law enforcement agencies swooped in on the party’s top leadership, whisking away at least three key members from different parts of Islamabad, while forcing others to take shelter in the Parliament House.
After a contentious address at the Sunday rally, which prompted condemnations from PML-N leaders and the journalist community, CM Gandapur was said to be holed up in Islamabad’s KP House.
Barrister Mohammad Saif, the KP government spokesperson, had said CM Gandapur had left for Islamabad at 3 pm for “some meeting” but since then, he had not been in touch with the provincial leadership. Later, Saif told Geo News he feared that the chief minister had been taken into custody.
However, sources said that the KP CM was invited to Islamabad for a meeting.
A Dawn.com Correspondent based in Peshawar confirmed that Gandapur had returned to the CM House at around 5am.
Earlier, PTI lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha indicated that CM Gandapur had been staying at Islamabad’s KP House, claiming he had been “released”.
“Ali Amin has reached back KP House [in Islamabad] and is fine. Thank you all for raising your voice and ensuring his release,” Panjutha said in a Post on X at 3:41 am.
In a subsequent postthe lawyer said the KP CM would depart for Peshawar from KP House.
Previously, PTI MPA Meena Khan Afridi had said in a statement that “party leadership, [KP] cabinet members and his family members” were not able to contact Gandapur for six to seven hours.
He had warned of a “reaction” from the party if the “federal government or the decision-makers took the unconstitutional step of arresting” Gandapur.
More PTI leaders arrested as 60 unnamed booked in FIR
In a statement today, the PTI’s media cell said that so far 12 party leaders, including MNA Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Chief Whip of National Assembly Amir Dogar, had been arrested along with key ally Sunni Ittehad Council’s chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza.
Meanwhile, it emerged today that Islamabad’s Noon police station had booked “60-70 unidentified persons” along with PTI Islamabad president Aamer Mughal, MNA Zubair Khan and leader Shoaib Shaheen in a terrorism case over “attacking and injuring policemen”.
The first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.comhad been registered on Sunday night on the complaint of Additional Sub-Inspector Tansar Iqbal.
It invoked sections 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt) 395 (dacoity), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence) and 109 (punishment of abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
According to the FIR, a mob of 60-70 people “armed with canes, sharp stones, iron rods and with PTI flags in their hands” was led by Zubair and blocked the Tarnol Bridge.
It added that upon inquiring from the mob, they said they had orders from Shaheen and Mughal to block the road and force the police to leave the spot.
The mob attacked the police with canes and stones, injuring six cops, who were now undergoing treatment at a hospital, the FIR said. It added that the mob also stole anti-riot gear from four policemen and broke the windows of a government vehicle.
The FIR stated that while the mob dispersed when the police deployed “ordinary teargas”, three persons were identified who were “close to Aamer Mughal” — namely Saud Iftikhar, Mohammad Arif and Mohammad Atif Gulzar.
The complaint asserted that the mob’s aim was to “achieve its political aim by spreading fear and terror among the public and the law enforcement agencies”.
By 11pm on Monday, there were confirmed reports about the Arrest of Gohar, firebrand leader Sher Afzal Marwat, Waziristan lawmaker Zubair Khan and lawyer Shoaib Shaheen.
Gohar and Marwat were taken into custody separately outside the Parliament House by a large number of personnel as police bundled them into vehicles as soon as they exited the assembly building after Monday’s session.
Shaheen was detained from his office in G-9 in an apparent surprise raid, as seen in footage of the arrest. His staff at the office tried to put up resistance, but they were also taken into custody by almost a dozen police and plainclothesmen.
PTI leaders Zain Qureshi, Zartaj Gul, Omer Ayub, Sheikh Waqas Akram, and Seemabia Tahir are also wanted by police, but fearing arrest some of them had taken shelter inside the Parliament House.
Police officials had said they would try to round up the PTI leadership booked in various cases by (Tuesday) morning and the residences and offices of these leaders were being closely monitored for the purpose.
Omar Ayub writes to NA speaker over ‘despicable’ arrests
Separately, in a letter addressed to NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub termed the arrests of Gohar and Marwat “just outside parliament” as “despicable”.
“It does not bode well for democracy or parliament,” the PTI MNA wrote.
Asserting that the Islamabad police had “framed fictitious charges” against the party leaders, Ayub expressed the confidence that they would soon be “thrown out in court”.
Ayub said: “The wheel of time turns very rapidly, and it is becoming increasingly vicious. I do not see a good ending for this regime, and it appears that the current leadership will be dragged from the scruff of their necks and evicted in the coming months.
“It will be these very intelligence agencies people who will be dragging them out,” the PTI leader added.
“I am writing this so that you can save it and tell me that I was right when the events unfolded as I have written. I ask for nothing and expect nothing,” Ayub concluded.
More to follow
