LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Three more senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Dr Yasmin Rashid, Dr Shireen Mazari and Amir Dogar were arrested from Lahore, Islamabad and Multan respectively while the house Murad Saeed was raided in Swat.
He, however, was not present in the house at the time of the raid.
The arrests are the latest in the ongoing crackdown continued on the party leadership and workers across the country.
Top PTI leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Musarat Cheema, her spouse Zamshed Iqbal Cheema and Omer Cheema, were already arrested from Lahore and the federal capital and some of them have been shifted to Adiala Jail under detention for 15 days.
Qureshi was arrested in the wee hours of Thursday after the police raided Gilgit-Baltistan House in Islamabad under Section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
However, the arrests of Dr Yasmin Rashid and Dr Shireen Mazari have come after the country witnessed a break in the violent protests last night as the PTI hailed the Supreme Court’s verdict to release their party chairman.
“The leadership of the PTI will decide the next political course of action after consultation. The PTI believes in peaceful political struggle. The PTI hopes that all institutions will strictly follow the orders of the Supreme Court and take care of the security of chairman Imran Khan,” a statement issued by the PTI said.
Details of PTI’s Senior Vice President Shireen Mazari’s arrest still remain unclear.
The party issued a statement on social media condemning the arrest but did not provide further information on the issue.
A former PTI lawmaker Kanwal Shauzab said that “50 Islamabad police personnel raided Shireen’s house at 3am and arrested her. She is a brave leader of the PTI and a patriotic Pakistani and this is the crime for which she has been taken into custody”.
PTI leader Andalib Abbas revealed that Dr Yasmin Rashid was hiding in Defense or Cavalry Ground and she was abducted at 6:30 in the morning. She said that her colleague had been absent from her home for several days due to police raids.
“Two days ago, Dr Yasmin Rashid’s 80-year-old husband and 76-year-old brother-in-law were also arrested from their family residence,” she said.
While the brother-in-law still remains in custody, Dr Yasmin Rashid’s husband has been released due to his poor health, the PTI leader said.
“Forty to 50 people came with four to five vehicles to arrest Dr Yasmin,” Abbas added.
It may be noted that Dr Yasmin was to make her way to Islamabad with other party workers ahead of Imran Khan’s hearing.
Meanwhile, the police on Friday arrested PTI leader and former Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM), Malik Amir Dogar, under section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (3MPO) from outside Lahore High court Multan bench.
DSP Multan Cantt Police Rao Tariq Pervaiz informed the media that Dogar was detained by the police under 3MPO whose orders were issued by the Deputy Commissioner.
He stated that PTI leader was later shifted to Central Jail clarifying that he was not arrested in a case registered against him for which he had applied for bail in the court.
It is to be noted that the security personnel have rounded up over 1,800 PTI leaders and supporters since the protests began on Tuesday when Imran was arrested from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises. However, the Supreme Court ordered his immediate release on Thursday evening in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The Islamabad police spokesperson had confirmed the arrests, adding that Imran’s spokesperson Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, her husband Jamshed Cheema, Malika Bukhari and Senator Falaknaz had also been taken into custody under Section 3 of the MPO and transferred to Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi under 15-day detention.
Murad Saeed’s residence raided in Swat
On the other hand, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police on Friday raided Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Murad Saeed’s house in Swat.
The PTI leader was not present at his home during the raid, according to police.
It is pertinent to mention here that police have arrested several senior leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from different cities of the province since May 9 as crackdown against PTI workers continues.
