Special team to probe ‘violence’ at PTI’s Sept 8 rally

• Two more cases against PTI leaders surface at Sangjani, Ramna police stations
• NA Secretariat asks interior ministry to probe ‘breach’ of parliament

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police have constituted a five-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe a terrorism case registered against the PTI leaders and supporters at the Sangjani police station in light of the Sept 8 public gathering, which was used to ratchet up the crackdown on the former ruling party.

Following the public gathering, the police rounded up several PTI leaders, including its chief Gohar Ali Khan who was released the next day.

However, in a widely denounced move, the plainclothesmen ‘breached’ the Parliament House to round up some PTI men taking shelter inside.

In response to this episode, the National Assembly Secretariat ordered the interior ministry to investigate the arrest of MNAs from the precincts of the Parliament House in violation of the rules and sanctity of the house.

The terrorism case to be probed by the SIT includes the violation of the newly promulgated ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024’ besides other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The FIR implicated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Amir Mughal, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Khalid Khurshid, Sher Afzal Marwat, Zartaj Gul, Faisal Chaudhry, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Omar Ayub, Naeem Haider Panjutha, Alamgir, Zain Qureshi, Hamid Raza, PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, and others.

The PTI leaders are accused of taking the magistrate and the police officials hostage, assaulting them, and also threatening them at gunpoint. The FIR claimed the state officials had arrived on the stage to tell the PTI organisers that the requisite time for the gathering had ended and the continuation of the gathering was in violation of the NOC and the newly promulgated law that regulated gatherings in the federal capital.

The five-member special team includes SSP Investigation Arsalan Shahzaib, also holding the office of SSP Operations, and SP Sadar Khan Zaib, who conducted the operation in which the MNAs were arrested from the Parliament House.

Other members include the Organised Crimes Unit SP, Sangjani SHO, and the investigating officer of the case. The SIT has been directed to investigate the case and arrest the suspects named in the FIR. The head of the special team will submit an updated report every two days to the Islamabad police chief.

In addition to the five already registered cases, two more cases against the PTI leadership at the Sangjani and Ramna police stations surfaced. A case was registered with the Sangjani police on Sept 8, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, along with 324, 341, 186, 353, 148, 149 and 506(ii) of the PPC, and Section 8 of Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024. Amir Dogar, Owais, Syed Shah Ahmed, Naseem Ali Shah, and Yousaf Khan were nominated in the FIR along with 60 unidentified persons. According to the FIR, they beat up the police personnel and shot at them, the officials added.

The case at the Ramna police station was registered on September 10 and invoked sections 341, 147, 149, 353, 186, 109 and 506(ii) against 25 people. According to the FIR, the PTI supporters armed with batons, iron rods and stones blocked a road in Sector G-11 when the police produced Sheikh Waqas Akram, Sher Afzal Marwat, Shoaib Shaheen and others in the court in connection with the case registered at the Noon police station. The police arrested at least nine persons while the rest managed to escape, it claimed.

NA seeks probe

Separately, a letter addressed to Interior Secretary retired Capt Mohammad Khurram Agha, written from the office of the secretary general of the National Assembly Secretariat said it had been brought to the notice of the NA speaker purportedly in a serious violation of National Assembly Rules, the precincts of parliament were allegedly breached to arrest certain members of the National Assembly on the night between September 9 and 10, 2024.

“As custodian of the house, the speaker has expressed his grave concern over the alleged violation of the sanctity of the august house,” it added.

In view of the gravity of the matter attached to the above-alleged violation, it has been directed to probe the veracity of the incident and a report in this regard be furnished to the speaker within seven days, positively, it said, adding that moreover, if laxity is found, and appropriate disciplinary action against the delinquents may also be initiated under intimation to this office.

Sources in the police said though the operation to round up the lawmakers from the NA was headed by the senior officials, including the SSP Operations, it was likely that junior officials, such as the DSP and SHOs, would be made scapegoats for the unprecedented action. They said the capital police did not inform the speaker about the hours-long operation or the arrest of the lawmakers on the premises of the house.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2024