Ten Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members who were arrested during a night raid on Parliament earlier this week were produced in the National Assembly on Thursday, following the issuance of their production orders.
The raid, which took place around 3am on Tuesday, involved plainclothes officers who cut off the power supply and stormed the Services Section of Parliament, arresting at least 10 PTI lawmakers.
In response to the incident and the uproar it caused in the assembly, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq sanctioned the suspension of five security personnel for four months and ordered the transfer of five officials of the National Assembly Development Authority. Capital (CDA) on commission for its participation in the disconnection. the power of the building.
Additionally, a four-member committee, headed by Additional Secretary Iftikhar Ahmad, has been formed to probe the security breach and unauthorized access inside Parliament.
The arrested MNAs, including Sher Afzal Marwat, Malik Amir Dogar, Ahmed Chattha, Zain Qureshi, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Zubair Khan Wazir, Awais Haider Jakhar, Syed Ahad Ali Shah, Nasim Ali Shah and Yousuf Khan Khattak, were brought to the assembly . under tight security measures by the Islamabad police.
Footage shared on social media platform X by PTI showed MNA Ali Muhammad Khan welcoming his detained colleagues as they arrived at the assembly. Chants of “Imran Khan” echoed as the lawmakers, including Dogar, Marwat and Qureshi, emerged from the police vehicle.
In the National Assembly, Sher Afzal Marwat, a senior PTI figure, expressed gratitude to the president for issuing production orders but criticized the police for confiscating his personal belongings, including a pistol and five Kalashnikov rifles.
He rejected the charges brought against him, claiming he was falsely accused of tearing a police officer’s uniform.
Opposition leader Omar Ayub strongly condemned the attack on Parliament by masked men and called for an investigation.
“The Constitution and the law have been violated,” he said, questioning how police were able to arrest MNAs inside Parliament and claiming that law enforcement had no legal authority to do so. He also expressed concern about how the police gained access to the legislators’ residences.
In a separate legal development, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) remanded the 10 MNAs in judicial remand after staying an earlier decision granting police their physical custody.
The decision came after the Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) ordered an eight-day physical remand for the lawmakers, rejecting the police’s request for a 17-day remand.
During the IHC hearing, Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz considered the petitions of the detained legislators. The attorney general expressed concern that suspending pretrial detention could send the wrong message. However, Justice Farooq dismissed the concerns and questioned the impact of maintaining the physical custody order.
The court temporarily stayed the ATC’s remand decision and issued notices to the attorney general of Islamabad. The hearing will resume tomorrow.
