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NA speaker suspends 5 security officials following PTI lawmakers’ controversial arrest from parliament – Pakistan

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday suspended five security officials for four months, days after PTI lawmakers were arrested from inside the Parliament House.

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 11 PTI legislators.

In light of the subsequent outcry by the PTI in the NA, Sadiq had ordered an immediate and complete investigation into the arrests from parliament.

According to an “office order” issued by the NA secretariat today, Sergeant-at-Arms (BPS-20) Muhammad Ishfaq Ashraf was suspended “with immediate effect for a period of 120 days”.

“During the period of his suspension, he will be entitled to draw pay and allowances as admissible under the applicable rules,” the order read.

While not specifying the reason for the move, it said the action was taken under rule 5(1) (suspension and leave) of the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020.

Under the said rule, the appointing authority “may place any civil servant under suspension or send him on leave, against whom proceedings are proposed to be initiated for an initial period” of 120 days at a time.

In a separate notice, the suspension orders for Security Assistant Waqas Ahmed (grade-14 official) as well as three junior security assistants (grade-9 officials) — namely Obaidullah, Muhammad Waheed Safdar and Muhammad Haroon — were issued.

The four officials were also placed under suspension for 120 days and “entitled to draw pay and allowances as admissible under the applicable rules”.

On Tuesday, declaring that he would lodge a first information report (FIR), if needed, the NA speaker had sought footage from all entry gates of the Parliament House for evidence-based action.

Sadiq also held deliberations with parliamentary leaders and members of the lower house, with Ali Muhammad Khan and Shandana Gulzar of the PTI and PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah among those present during the meeting.

During the meeting, he said there would be no compromise on the dignity and prestige of parliament. It was decided to formulate some rules of the game to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in future.

Later, the speaker had also summoned Islamabad’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi to his chamber to get details of the arrests and ordered him to produce the detained MNAs in parliament.

On Monday night — a day after the PTI held its Sangjani power show — law enforcement agencies swooped in on the PTI’s top leadership, arresting at least three key members from different areas of Islamabad, while forcing others to take shelter in the Parliament House.

By 11pm on Monday, there were confirmed reports about the arrest of firebrand leader Sher Afzal Marwat, Waziristan MNA Zubair Khan and lawyer Shoaib Shaheen, who was taken into custody from his office in G-9.

At least 11 MNAs arrested included Marwat, Zubair, Chief Whip in NA Malik Amir Dogar, Sheikh Waqqas Akram, Bannu lawmaker Nasim Ali Shah, Zain Qureshi, Ahmed Chattha, Awais Haider Jakhar, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Yousuf Khattak and Abdul Latif Chitrali. .

After being freed by the Islamabad police on Tuesday, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan clarified that he had surrendered himself for arrest when Marwat was taken into custody.

Most PTI MNAs to not attend NA sessions till probe held: Gohar

Meanwhile, Gohar announced a boycott of NA proceedings by “all PTI MNAs except nine to ten” as the recent events continued to come under discussion in today’s assembly session.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Gohar said, “Until an inquiry is conducted into September 10 events and we are satisfied, PTI MNAs, except for nine to 10, will not participate in this parliament’s proceedings. We will not attend your committees’ [meetings].

“This is our protest,” the PTI leader asserted.

“It has come to my knowledge that Bilawal sahib has also tried [to address our concerns] and I thank him for that,” he added.

The PTI chairman clarified: “Under no circumstance would the PTI resign from the parliament or any assembly, nor have we announced as such.”

Regarding the arrests of “10 MNAs”, Gohar called on the NA deputy speaker not to conduct an inquiry that led to the suspension of “some innocent ordinary people but to go to the depth of it”.

PTI’s Gohar Ali Khan speaks in the National Assembly on Sept 11, 2024. — DawnNewsTV

During his address, Gohar warned the treasury benches that if PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government wanted, it could also file cases against ministers of the ruling coalition.

However, the PTI MNA said he chose not to engage in “tit-for-tat” actions.

Recalling the suspension of PTI’s Punjab MPAs for 15 sessions, Gohar said he faced “pressure” as the party’s chairman but when a KP lawmaker from the ruling parties “misbehaved”, he chose not to have them suspended in return.

“We want the political forces to be strengthened so that unpolitical forces won’t get a chance,” the PTI chairman said.

In his address, PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari also struck a conciliatory tone as he called for politics of revenge to be shunned.

Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari speaks in the National Assembly on Sept 11, 2024. — DawnNewsTV

“If the government’s only job is to decide who should we jail today as ‘Khan did this to us and ruined the air’ so […] You will be happy for one day but tomorrow, you and I will be in the same jail,” Bilawal said.

“When Khan was the prime minister, I had no personal contradiction,” the PPP chairman stated.

“The manner in which we have been doing politics for quite some time, we have turned it into a gaali (swear word),” the Bhutto scion lamented.

Bilawal also criticized the opposition for hurling abuses and “hitting below the belt” instead of giving constructive feedback to the federal government on its economic and security policies.

If this country has to move forward, both sides must work together. […] It also does not matter that your ‘prime minister’ is jailed. You can fight for his case in jail. Here, serve the public,” the PPP chairman said.

told Dawn that a well-equipped police contingent, led by Senior Superintendent of Police Operations Arsalan Jahanzeb, had been deployed outside Parliament House for hours before some unmarked vehicles arrived on the scene. This was followed by the disconnection of electricity to the building.

Subsequently, MNAs Zain Qureshi, Amir Dogar, Sheikh Waqqas Akram and Nasim Ali Shah, along with others, were brought out of Parliament House and handed over to the police for legal action.

Three of the four vehicles subsequently left the premises and the MNAs were bundled into different cars.

After this episode, the power supply was restored and the “under custody” MNAs were brought out of the building through the Cabinet Division gate, where they were “rearrested” by the police. The detained lawmakers were later moved to the Central Investigation Agency Center.

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