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.”
