The way the opposition leaders were arrested only happens in an autocratic regime, not in democracy.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly, on Tuesday opened an investigation into the arrests of opposition lawmakers from inside the parliament building on Monday evening.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has confirmed the arrests of Gohar Khan, who is the party chairman, as well as 12 other lawmakers, though it was unclear if all of them were arrested from the parliament building. Police told Arab News three MPs including Gohar Khan has been arrested from the National Assembly over charges of violating a new law to regulate public gatherings in the Pakistani capital.
The PTI had held a rally on Sunday to demand Khan’s release. The gathering was mostly peaceful, but there were clashes between some PTI supporters and police en route to the rally venue, in which one police officer was injured. The rally also went on longer than the 7pm deadline given by the district administration.
Under Pakistani law, the concerned judge or magistrate needs to inform the speaker of reasons for the arrest of an MNA, while lawmakers cannot be arrested from within the precincts of parliament without the speaker’s permission.
“Whatever is being said about what happened in parliament last night, definitely, a stand must be taken on this,” Sadiq told parliament after opposition lawmakers raised the issue of the arrests on the floor of the house.
“I have not only requested videos of all the gates [but also] I want video footage from inside [the parliament] so we can put responsibility on the concerned.”
Sadiq said he would file a report with police against officers responsible for entering parliament and arresting MNAs and urged lawmakers from the treasury and opposition benches to meet him in his chamber and discuss the way forward.
“We have to take this up seriously,” Sadiq said. “This is not going to be something taken lightly.”
Local media widely reported that Sadiq had summoned senior police officials, including the Islamabad Inspector General of Police, to his chamber to provide an explanation for Monday evening’s events.
Defense minister Khawaja Asif, a key member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet, said the speaker’s suggestion on the way forward was “acceptable” and his ruling PML-N party would agree with whatever course of action was decided by other political parties and the house.
Before the speaker’s remarks, PTI lawmaker Ali Muhammad delivered a fiery speech in parliament, calling the arrests an “attack on democracy and on Pakistan’s constitution.”
In a video released on social media, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said the party had launched a “campaign to uphold the law and constitution of Pakistan.”
“The way they arrested [PTI] chairman Barrister Gohar [Khan] from inside parliament, I am extremely disappointed by the weakness shown by the Speaker [National Assembly],” he said. “We won’t back down from this. We won’t be frightened or suppressed.”
