ISLAMABAD: The Parliament Lodges of the detainedPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers have been declared sub-jail following the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) decision to nullify their eight-day physical remand in a case linked to violation of new law related to public gatherings.
A notification was issued by the NA Secretariat after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq granted the approval for changing the status of Parliament Logdes. The development comes a day after the custodian of the lower house issued production orders of the PTI members of National Assembly (MNAs) following their arrests.
The MNAs whose lodges have been declared sub-jail include senior PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat, Malik Amir Dogar, Zain Qureshi, Naseem Shah, Ahmed Chattha, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Shoaib Shaheen, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Awais Haider Jhakar, Zubair Khan Wazir and Yousuf Khan.
A number of PTI leaders had been arrested in connection with several cases including the reported attack on police at Chongi No 26 — which turned into a battleground as PTI workers and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) clashed after the formers deviated from routes leading to Sangjani, venue of the party’s public gathering.
This drew scathing criticism not only from the former ruling party but the NA speaker as well as some members of the treasury benches.
Subsequently, Sadiq suspended five security staff, including the lower house of parliament's Sergeant at Arms Muhammad Ishfaq Ashraf, for four months over failure to ensure the house's security.
He was massively praised after the federal capital police presented the arrested MNAs in the lower house of parliament on Thursday amid high security.
Earlier in the day, the IHC nullified the eight-day remand of the above mentioned PTI lawmakers in a case lodged at Sangjani Police Station related to attack on police personnel near Chongi No 26 area during the rally.
In the fresh crackdown, the LEAs and 'masked men' allegedly entered the Parliament House and whisked away at least 10 lawmakers of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party in a late night raid on September 10.