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PTI leader Asad Qaiser on Sunday accused the government of “abducting” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur from KP House in Islamabad, warning that if he is not produced within 24 hours, his party will stage a nationwide protest.
His statement came ahead of the emergency Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session, initially rescheduled for 2pm today, but delayed due to Gandapur’s uncertain whereabouts.
The session finally started after a delay of five hours, with KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in the chair.
“If the KP chief minister is not produced within 24 hours, the PTI will stage a nationwide protest,” Qaiser warned while speaking to reporters outside the KP Assembly.
“We categorically say that this is not an attack on Gandapur, but on the whole country. If it has happened to the PTI, it will happen to you, too as not even the chief executive of a province is safe.”
Qaiser said that according to the information received by his party, Gandapur had been “abducted from KP House”, as evidenced by the destruction inside the building.
He claimed that over 1,000 PTI workers had so far been arrested.
“We do not want anarchy, we want to peacefully protest and exercise our rights,” Qaiser maintained. “The PTI would continue to protest until its last breath and with no limits as protesting was a constitutional and legal right”.
A large number of protesters reached Islamabad yesterday as PTI held a demonstration in response to their incarcerated founder, Imran Khan’s, call for a “peaceful protest”.
Different groups of protestors, including the caravan of CM Gandapur entered the capital from Taxila near Nicholson Monument after breaching the police cordon.
The CM then left the party workers in Islamabad and moved to the KP House from where he “disappeared,” sparking rumours about his arrest.
PTI leaders issued conflicting statements regarding the news of the alleged arrest, while some maintained he was “detained”, KP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Saif stated on X that the CM had not been “formally arrested”. He, however, added that a “heavy contingent of Rangers and police are present at the KP House.”
KP Assembly session
According to a notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, issued by the provincial government, KP Assembly Speaker Swati “called the sitting of Assembly on Sunday at 2pm which was earlier adjourned.”
The agenda for the session said that the assembly was convened to discuss the serious damage caused by the Islamabad police, Rangers and government officials as they went inside the KP CM’s residence in the capital.
According to the agenda, the ongoing session is set to discuss the “indiscriminate use of rubber bullets and shells, mistreatment of women and families”, including the damage caused to government property.
“The session will also discuss the disappearance of KP CM”, it said.
Meanwhile, around 300 PTI supporters reached the KP Assembly and started sloganeering and demanding Gandapur’s “release.” Some of them protested outside the building, while others chanted slogans from the public gallery.
On the other hand, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi refuted rumours about Gandapur’s alleged arrest, stating that he was neither in police nor any other institution’s custody. He also said that the government had “evidence of the PTI leader running from his residence.”
“I don’t know why he ran and for what reason,” the interior minister said today while speaking to the media in Islamabad.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said that the CM was nowhere to be found and even the PTI workers were looking for their leader.
“A drama is being created in the provincial assembly,” Kundi said while speaking in Islamabad, adding that given there are cameras everywhere, there must be some video evidence of the CM’s alleged “abduction”.
“Since yesterday, he has gone into self-hiding. He is enjoying it,” he said.
PTI’s political committee, while criticising the “disappearance” of the chief minister, warned that there would be “serious repercussions” if Gandapur was arrested.
The KP CM, according to Barrister Saif, is on bail until October 25.
“If arrested, it will be an insult to the mandate of the people of KP, the fake government will have to answer for such unconstitutional and illegal actions,” Saif continued in his X post.
Despite Barrister Saif’s statement that Gandapur had not been “formally” detained, PTI’s leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub Khan, persisted in his claim that Gandapur had been “arrested” from KP House.
PTI to continue protests
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan earlier informed the media that the protest was initially planned for one day, but due to the crackdown on demonstrators, the PTI had decided to extend its protest.
Former National Assembly speaker and senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser also told Dawn that PTI’s political committee had decided to continue the protest until they received a clear directive from Imran Khan to end it.
Over the last weekend, an amount of Rs54 million along with a force of 6,000 personnel, comprising police, Rangers and FC, was used to counter the PTI’s protest and stop them from entering the capital and reaching the D-Chowk on Jinnah Avenue, police officers told Dawn.
On Saturday, PML-N expressed frustration over the state’s failure to classify PTI as a “terrorist organisation” in the face of its “unending protests”, urging swift action before it becomes too late.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court has ordered the government to restore normalcy in the city and designate a location for PTI to hold its protest.
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