A day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers were chased within the Parliament’s premises, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday reprimanded the Islamabad Inspector General (IG) of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, demanding their immediate release.
“You cannot arrest anyone from the Parliament House or lodges. These parliamentarians should be released immediately,” said the speaker.
Sadiq added that he is “very saddened” by this incident and also watched the footage of PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat’s arrest.
“What way was it to arrest a parliamentarian?” the speaker questioned IG Rizvi.
Sadiq’s directives comes in the wake of the arrests of PTI lawmakers followed by a fiery speech delivered by the party’s leader Ali Muhammad Khan on the floor of the lower house today.
Khan, in his speech, strongly protested the treatment meted out to fellow members of the NA including Aamir Dogar, Sheikh Waqas, Maulana Naseem, Sher Afzal Marwat and Jamshed Dasti — all of whom took shelter in the Parliament last night.
Protesting against the arrests, the former minister said: “What happened on May 9 was wrong, but last night was the May 9 of democracy.”
The politician, in the NA, said he was not making a case for his party’s founder Imran Khan today but for democracy. “We are not in Israel but in Pakistan.”
Earlier today, the speaker maintained he won’t remain silent on arrests of lawmakers and will action. “Whatever happened in the Parliament will have to be protested. I have ordered all the videos,” he said, summoning the leadership of all political parties in the chamber.
Sadiq maintained that the matter is to be looked into with seriousness. “I will file a case against those involved in yesterday’s incident.”
The speaker had then immediately summoned IG Islamabad, DIG operations and senior superintendent of police (SSP) operations.
Meanwhile, during his speech in the NA, Khan questioned who took away his party’s lawmakers from the Parliament. “Who were those masked people who took our people from the Parliament?”
“Impose Article 6 on those who stormed the Parliament last night,” he said, adding that the episode will be remembered as a “dark chapter in the democratic history of Pakistan”.
“What happened yesterday was an attack on democracy, Pakistan and the Constitution of Pakistan,” he said.
He added that the attack was, in fact, one on the speaker, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The PTI leader told fellow parliamentarians that it was difficult for him to arrive at the Parliament today following strict checking in the federal capital.
