National Assembly suspends five security officials over arrests from parliament
The Sergeant-at-Arms of Pakistan’s National Assembly, along with four other security personnel, has been suspended following arrests made within the parliament premises.
The action was taken by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq after a review of the incident, in which several arrests were made inside the assembly.
The Sergeant-at-Arms, Ashfaq Ashraf, was suspended for four months due to negligence in security duties.
Four other security staff members, including Security Assistant Waqas Ahmed and Junior Security Assistants Ubaidullah, Waheed Safdar, and Muhammad Haroon, were also suspended.
The suspensions come after a session in which members from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) condemned the entry of police into the assembly premises late at night to arrest members, calling it an attack on parliament.
Opposition leader Omar Ayub also demanded action against agency heads responsible for the incident, questioning the forced abductions and stating that such actions cannot be tolerated in a democracy.
Previously, police stormed the parliament on Tuesday, arresting several prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Sahibzada Hamid Raza, head of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
A day after PTI ventured into a legal minefield to stage its rally in the capital, the government wasted no time on Monday to arrest its leaders for flouting the last-gasp laws hastily enacted ahead of the highly anticipated event – widely seen as a test of embattled party's political muscle.
Sources revealed that the lights inside the National Assembly (NA) were turned off before officers in plain clothes entered the building.
The arrests started rolling in, with Islamabad police arresting PTI leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, and Advocate Shoaib Shaheen outside the parliament.
In addition to the political leaders, two security personnel stationed outside the Parliament Service Centre were also detained.