BANNU: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member of the National Assembly Maulana Nasim Ali Shah was reportedly arrested by police from his madrassa in Ghoriwala, Bannu, on Monday.
A video circulating on social media purportedly shows police personnel taking the lawmaker away from Al-Markaz-ul-Islami. The footage was also shared through the detained MNA’s account on X.
However, the circumstances surrounding the reported arrest remained unclear. Authorities had not officially confirmed the reasons for his detention, whether any cases had been registered against him or where he was being held.
The reported arrest comes amid growing pressure on PTI leaders and workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the imposition of governor’s rule and a state of emergency in the province on October 11.
Several senior PTI figures have reportedly been taken into preventive or protective custody since the federal government intervened in the province. Those affected include former chief minister Sohail Afridi, PTI provincial president Junaid Akbar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry had also confirmed that Afridi and some members of his cabinet were placed in preventive custody.
Afridi’s detention has become the subject of legal proceedings. In a petition filed before the Peshawar High Court, his brother, Muhammad Aamir, alleged that armed and masked men took the former chief minister from the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar on October 11 in the presence of the city’s police chief.
The petition requested the court to ensure Afridi’s recovery, disclose his whereabouts and order a judicial inquiry into his alleged detention.
In a separate incident, Afridi’s lawyer, Muhammad Bashir, was reportedly taken into custody outside the Peshawar High Court after filing a petition challenging the former chief minister’s detention. Media reports later indicated that he had been released.
Police have also carried out operations against PTI supporters in different parts of the province amid the party’s planned march towards Islamabad. Several workers were reportedly arrested in Swabi, while six PTI supporters were detained in Khyber district during protests against governor’s rule.
Earlier, Imran Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were detained for 30 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance in September, ahead of the party’s planned Islamabad march. The PTI founder’s nephews, Shahraiz Khan and Sher Shah, were also briefly detained and subsequently released, according to their lawyer.
The federal government imposed governor’s rule and declared an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11, citing security concerns and accusing the provincial administration of failing to adequately support counterterrorism efforts.
PTI has rejected the measures as unconstitutional and challenged the federal government’s actions before the Peshawar High Court.
