Arrests of PTI supporters: IG submits incomplete record to court

Top cop says 263 PTI workers arrested, while police records show 313 arrests

ISLAMABAD: The Inspector General (IG) of the Islamabad Police on Monday seems to have ‘misled’ the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by apparently submitting an incomplete set of records of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers arrested by police in the capital.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of IHC on October 28 had directed the Islamabad IGP and the Islamabad deputy commissioner to submit a list of all workers of PTI or its allies who had been arrested by the Islamabad Police. Complying with the orders, Islamabad IG Tariq Masood Yasin appeared in court on Monday and submitted the record.

According to court records, the IGP told the court that a total of 263 workers and supporters of the PTI and its allies had been arrested by the police in 10 cases registered between October 28 and 30.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, however, at least 313 workers or supporters of PTI and its allies have been arrested by police in 17 cases registered between October 27 and 30.

The police record, as shown in the court order, omitted details of 37 PTI workers and supporters who had been arrested by the police in E-11 on October 27, when the party tried to hold a youth convention. The police also, as the court order shows, did not submit the record of the case registered against PTI MPA Ali Amin Gandapur, who was booked late on Sunday after ‘unlicenced’ weapons and premium liquor were recovered from his car outside Bani Gala. Similarly, the police also did not mention another five cases which had been registered against PTI workers for violating Section 144 and other sections between October 27 and 30. Court records showed that one case, registered by the Industrial Area police against PML-Q workers on October 30, had been listed twice. It was not clear whether it was a mistake on the part of police or a typing error by court officials.

The Express Tribune tried to contact the IG, but his staff said he was busy, and later that he was unavailable to comment on this particular issue.

PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haque said the submission of an incomplete record meant the authorities were misleading the court. Expressing dissatisfaction with the figures presented by the IG, he requested the court to determine the exact number of PTI workers arrested by the Islamabad Police since October 27.

Calm before the storm?

Meanwhile, it was a relatively calm day around Bani Gala, with police officers saying that no arrests were made during the day. The police, however, strictly controlled movement towards Imran Khan’s residence, stopping many party leaders at checkpoints set up on the access route.

In the afternoon, the police also detained PTI leaders Arif Alvi and Imran Ismaeel at Secretariat Police Station for a short while, but Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took notice soon after and ordered the police to release them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2016.