Pakistan Opposition files privilege motion over police storming Parliament Lodges
Mar 12, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 12 : Opposition parties in Pakistan submitted a privilege motion at the National Assembly Secretariat against the officers of the Islamabad police and district administration for contempt of the assembly and breaching their privilege, local media has reported.
The development comes after police forces on Thursday night stormed Parliament Lodges and made 19 arrests including key opposition members of the National Assembly, the highest legislative body of the country.
The privilege motion claimed that a heavy contingent of the Islamabad police force along with senior district administration of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) forcibly entered the parliament lodges and physically manhandled elected members of the parliament, The Dawn reported on Friday.
Separately, Senator Kamran Murtaza of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) [JUI-F] lodged a complaint at the Secretariat police station against the police and administration officers for cordoning off the parliament lodges, breaking into the lodge of Member of National Assembly (MNA) Salahuddin Ayubi and taking people hostage, the report said.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, accompanied by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif held a press conference denouncing the police action and threatening Imran Khan.
"Imran Khan, listen, we can jam you, as we jammed the whole country yesterday in reaction to the police raid at parliament lodges," Rehman said.
Talking about the upcoming no-confidence motion, Rehman said, "We are waging jihad against you (Imran Khan). If the motion fails, the country will plunge into anarchy and you will be responsible for that. At any cost, we will move forward to remove him (the PM)."
The police action had come after members of Ansarul Islam, a uniformed volunteer force set up to protect the leadership of the JUI-F, entered the Parliament Lodges in large numbers, reported Dawn.
JUI-F leader and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Salahuddin Ayubi refused to accept the police's demand of handing over Ansarul Islam members saying that the Ansarul activists were their guests and legally staying with them.
