Pakistan: No-trust vote battle turns ugly as police raid lodges housing opposition MPs
JUI-F Members of Parliament, private security guards freed after late-night parleys
Islamabad: The government-opposition rivalry that had already turned bitter after hurling of abuses and below-the-belt remarks from the two sides, turned uglier when the Islamabad Police on Thursday evening stormed the Parliament lodges and arrested the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)’s two Members of the National Assembly Maulana Jamaluddin and Salahuddin Ayubi.
JUI-F is a major party of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) and its head Maulana Fazlur Rehman is also President of the opposition-led alliance.
Besides arresting the Members of the Parliament (MPs), the police also apprehended more than a dozen of Ansar-ul-Islam workers — a uniformed volunteer force of the JUI-F.
JUI-F had summoned the volunteers to the Parliament lodges fearing the government might frisk (kidnap) their MPs to foil the no-trust move.
However, following the countrywide protests, the government on Friday released two JUI-F lawmakers and workers of Ansarul Islam.
Following the arrest of party workers and parliamentarians, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had called a countrywide protest and instructed party workers to stage a demonstration. However, after those arrested were set free, he called off protest and asked the party workers to return to their homes.
Roads blocked
Earlier, immediately after arrest of the JUI-F leaders and workers, the party had given a call for countrywide protests and its workers blocked roads not only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that is a stronghold of the party but also in Sindh and parts of the Punjab.
In order to pre-empt the scuffle with the JUI-F workers, the Islamabad police had cordoned off all the roads leading towards Parliament amid the JUI-F protest against the arrest of party workers.
JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza, who is former President of the Supreme Court Bar Assoction (SCBA) filed a complaint against the police operation inside the Parliament lodges.
The lawyers’s leader, who also sustained injures during the police action, approached Secretariat Police Station seeking the registration of an FIR after getting medical treatment.
“Islamabad Police abducted MNA Sallahuddin Ayubi, MNA Jamal Uddin and their guests from the Parliament Lodges on Thursday, March 10,” read the application.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) whild expressing solidarity with the JUI-F and condemning the police action termed the action a result of the government’s “nervousness” due to the no-trust motion submitted in the National Assembly against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In a statement late night, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari lashed out at the ruling party and warned it to refrain from such high handedness.
No room for private militia
After the arrest and scuffle with the JUI-F workers, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed while addressing a press conference said the opposition had planned to bring “mobs” into the Parliament, adding that “no one was allowed to keep private militia”.
He said the police did not arrest the two JUI-F MNAs. Rather, they had “voluntarily” offered themselves to be arrested to show off, said Sh Rashid adding 19 private militia members were in police custody who were later released on Friday on personal surety.