- Anti-corruption watchdog had arrested Imtiaz Ch on July 25 on charges of corruption
GUJRAT: The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Wednesday accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) workers of attacking an anti-corruption team and getting free detained the party’s MNA Haji Imtiaz Ahmed.
According to a spokesperson of the Anti-Corruption Department, MNA Haji Imtiaz Ahmed was arrested on charges of corruption of more than Rs10 million.
ACE had arrested Imtiaz Chaudhry on July 25 for allegedly taking kickbacks in development projects. The PTI MNA accused of receiving kickbacks in development projects.
The ACE spokesperson said the incident occurred when the ACE team had taken Imtiaz Ch to Mandi Bahauddin for interrogation when around eight to 10 armed individuals travelling in three vehicles, stopped the authority’s team and fired upon their vehicle.
The alleged interception took place at Gujrat’s New Shadiwal Road on Tuesday night at around 1:20am with the gunmen fleeing with the PTI MNA.
The lawmaker, who has been presented before the relevant court in the said case on two occasions, was in the ACE’s custody on physical remand and was due to be produced in a civil court on Wednesday.
A case has been lodged at the Gujrat Saddr police station on the complaint of ACE Circle Officer Aftab Haider with the FIR includes Sections 149, 148, 225, 224, 427, 324, 186 and 353 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
It is to be noted that apart from Imtiaz Ch, another PTI MNA Moazzam Khan Jatoi, was earlier taken into custody by ACE and was later handed over to Muzaffargarh police.
Before that, PTI’s Ameer Sultan was allegedly abducted by unknown men in Lahore with the police and law enforcers denying his arrest.
Meanwhile, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser has complained of its MNAs being pressurised to change loyalties.
PTI Chairman Gohar Khan had also accused the government of coercing the PTI MPs to change their allegiance after the Supreme Court verdict on the reserved seats for women and minorities was announced.
The Supreme Court on July 12 ruled that the PTI was eligible for the allocation of reserved seats, paving the way for the party’s return to the parliament, which was kicked out of the February 8 polls owing to the electoral body’s December 2023 ruling.
The judgement has also increased the pressure on the coalition alliance as it will change the composition of the National Assembly.
Since then the ECP has notified as many as 93 lawmakers from three provincial legislatures as PTI members.
The electoral body issued notification of 29 members of the PTI from Punjab, 58 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and six from Sindh.
