Following his release after being arrested in a fresh crackdown launched against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for ‘violating’ regulations devised under a new law — Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024, the police on Tuesday released party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan from their custody.
Gohar made a fiery speech in National Assembly today (Wednesday). He criticised the government for arresting women members of the PTI.
“Our sister, Semabia, has had a case filed against her. Your female members have also come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Our government is there, and we will file cases against you there. What will you do? Your federal minister is here, I challenge you. If I order the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, let’s see if that federal minister can even travel 300 miles to his own area.”, Gohar said.
“Masked individuals entered, and every door was opened—who had the keys? Who switched off the lights? Don’t punish innocent people; instead, get to the bottom of the issue. We are not the ones who back down,” he added.
Watch videos here:
Release from custody
Speaking to journalists after being released from police custody, Barrister Gohar strongly condemned the police actions within the Parliament House premises, saying men with covered faces stormed the parliament and arrested at least 10 of party’s lawmakers.
“This time, a CCTV footage [of the arrests] will be made public,” the PTI chief said, calling September 9 “a black day for Pakistan”.
Furthermore, he said they believe the arrests were an attack on parliament, urging the National Assembly (NA) speaker to investigate the matter.
“Our leaders forgave all the hardships they faced for the sake of the country, people, and democracy,” he said, adding: “We stayed in parliament so we could play our role.”
He also questioned whether it was a crime to prolong a rally beyond its designated timeframe.
