ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday ordered to release Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leaders Arif Alvi and Imran Ismail, a short while after they were arrested by Islamabad police while trying to enter Bani Gala.
In a statement issued by the Interior Ministry, the federal minister took notice of PTI’s leaders’ arrest and ordered Islamabad police to immediately release them.
Earlier both the PTI’s leaders were shifted to Secretariat Police Station in Islamabad after being taken into custody.
Aressted brutally
— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) October 31, 2016
Sha pic.twitter.com/tvQTfki6I4
— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) October 31, 2016
The administration has beefed up its efforts to restrict and arrest PTI leaders in a bid to foil the party’s planned Islamabad lockdown. Earlier in the day, police also stopped PTI’s leaders Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and Aleem Khan from entering Bani Gala.
However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in its orders asked both the administration and PTI to avoid shutting the Federal Capital. The High Court also issued orders against arrest of PTI workers.
Earlier talking to media outside his Bani Gala residence, PTI Chairman Imran Khan asked the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of Police Crackdown against PTI workers.
Talking to media in Bani Gala, the PTI Spokesman Naeem-ul-Haq said that the government was conducting raids on the residences of PTI workers. He said that Sharif brothers were responsible for prevailing political situation.
“PTI workers will come to Islamabad and will sweep away the corrupt government,” Naeem-ul-Haq said.
Meanwhile, a large of PTI supporters lead by Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak are set to reach Islamabad today.
Talking to media, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said that protesters would remove barriers and blockades from their path to reach Bani Gala.
“If anything happens, if one of our people even sustains a scratch, we will go to court and the responsible party will be the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif,” Khattak said.
