G-B police chief bears brunt of Zaman Park fiasco

ISLAMABAD:

An astonishing development took place during the Lahore Zaman Park fiasco on Wednesday after the information minister claimed that Gilgit-Baltistan’s police force had been employed against the Punjab police in the latter’s attempt to arrest the PTI chairman in the Toshakhana reference, leading to the transfer of G-B’s police chief.

According to a notification, former G-B inspector general of police Muhammad Saeed was directed to report to the Establishment Division while grade-20 police officer Dar Ali Khattak from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was posted as the G-B IGP.

Earlier in the day, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb during a news conference in Islamabad claimed that a “Gilgit-Baltistan force” was being used to attack Punjab police “who are trying to implement court orders to detain Imran Khan”, asserting that the law enforcement officials were unarmed.

Her comments came as clashes between the PTI workers and law enforcement agencies outside Imran’s Zaman Park Lahore residence intensified, as the Punjab police tried to arrest the former premier after an Islamabad sessions court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him on Monday.

Read G-B force used against Punjab police at Zaman Park: Marriyum

Launching a scathing attack against the former premier, Marriyum claimed that Imran wanted anarchy and chaos across the country.

She said the government had nothing to do with the arrest warrants of the PTI chairman as police were merely implementing the court’s orders.

She reminded that Imran was wanted in several cases, including threatening a judge, foreign funding, Tyrian White and Toshakhana.

“A cowardly person, a foreign agent, a Toshakahana thief, Tyrian’s father, a criminal of contempt of court is on the run from the police,” the minister said.

Marriyum alleged that the PTI chief was in the habit of telling lies and had been claiming that he was ready for agitation but at the same time he was “sick for appearance before the courts”.

She accused Imran of using women and children as human shields outside his Zaman Park residence.

The information minister maintained that the court had issued the arrest warrant for Imran and directed the police to produce him, claiming that 65 policemen were injured while attempting to implement the court orders.

“The person who called himself ‘Bahadur (brave) Khan’ is hiding under the bed today, though he had claimed to challenge United States.”

She said the ongoing situation could have been avoided had the court ordered the PTI chief’s arrest earlier.

Recalling PTI’s May 25 rally (last year) where the former ruling party was restricted to hold sit-in near the Srinagar Highway, but the party reached D-Chowk, resulting in chaos, she said Imran’s arrest should have been ordered the same day.

The information minister urged the former premier to appear before the court and provide clarification instead of resorting to “violent tactics”.

“PTI is not a political party. It is a group of terrorists. Media should also tell the facts of this ‘marathon’ to the people”, she said.

Marriyum claimed that the PTI chairman’s political career was over.

Expressing her dismay, she said that the current situation was a “joke” to the law and courts.