• Gilgit-Baltistan CM Khalid Khurshid under house arrest at GB House
• Metro bus operations remain suspended; official says service suffered loss of Rs9 million

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI: The PTI’s top brass, which was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, by the police in Islamabad and Rawalpindi was moved to Adiala Jail while PTI leader and Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid was put under house arrest at the GB House.

Police officials told Dawn that Asad Umar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Qasim Suri, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Fawad Chaudhry were arrested under 3 MPO after orders were issued by the district magistrate. According to sources, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Maleeka Bukhari, Falak Naz and Mr and Mrs Jamshed Cheema were sent to jail along with over 150 members of the PTI. The PTI leaders have been detained for one month, sources added.

On the other hand, the detained PTI supporters and activists were produced before being shifted to jail. Islamabad police had said: “Arrests had been made for inciting arson and violent protests under a thought-out plan for threatening peace.”

In Rawalpindi, the police have arrested around 200 activists of PTI so far and 13 cases have been registered against them with various criminal charges and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC).

GB CM under house arrest

In a surprise move, the police also put the GB CM under house arrest at the GB House – after declaring it a sub-jail – in Islamabad along with 30 others, including politicians and his personal staff. The office of the Criminal Intelligence Agency was also declared a sub-jail for PTI leaders.

The police officials revealed that raids were being conducted to arrest more PTI leaders and added that a majority of leaders had gone into hiding to avoid arrest.

Though things were relatively calm on Thursday, Islamabad witnessed two major demonstrations by PTI supporters who converged on Express Chowk and Police Lines Chowk at Srinagar Highway. They also attempted to move towards Constitution Avenue, but the police intercepted them and dispersed them by using teargas and batons. There were numerous clashes between the police and protesters, but none of them were decisive.

Meanwhile, nine more cases were registered against over 1,800 PTI members at Kohsar, Tarnol, Karachi Company, Koral, Sihala and Industrial Area police stations, the police said. The cases were registered under sections 147, 149, 186, 188, 341, 440, 148, 382, 109, 123A, 324, 506i, 427, 290, 153, and section 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code and one case invoked section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act as well.

Roads remain blocked

After the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest “unlawful”, the police in the garrison city were alerted and patrolling by Quick Response Force (QRF) was increased around sensitive government buildings in the cantonment area.

Earlier, the district administration had eased the traffic on Peshawar Road which was blocked with containers after violent protesters stormed the army headquarters protesting the arrest of Imran Khan.

The blockade of roads leading to Saddar was relaxed on Thursday, but after the SC order, the roads leading to General Headquarters (GHQ) were blocked again with containers and trucks.

The City Traffic Police said in a statement that all roads including Murree Road were clear for traffic. However, the roads located around sensitive establishments were closed. People were advised to keep a margin of 15 to 20 minutes before starting their travel to avoid any inconvenience.

According to eyewitnesses, two persons were injured after they clashed with each other on the release order the of PTI chairman. One was a supporter of PML-N and the other was a PTI activist. They kicked and punched each other which left them injured, however, the situation was brought under control by the intervention of onlookers. Although no violent incident was reported in the city on Thursday, business activities remained dull and the traffic on the roads was also thin.

Metro service suspended

After initial damage to Metro Bus Service bus stations of Rs40 million, Punjab Masstransit Authority on Thursday asked Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and NESPAK to examine the intensity of damage to structure and pillars of the elevated road and bus stations and inform estimates as soon as possible.

After the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al Qadir Trust case, the PTI workers staged a protest and set fire to the 6th Road metro station and destroyed Faizabad and Shamsabad bus stations.

Talking to Dawn, Syed Ozair Shah, general manager of the authority, said that a letter had been written to NESPAK – Metro Bus project consultant – and Rawalpindi Development Authority to form a committee of experts and engineers to assess the damage to the metro infrastructure.

“In the initial survey, PMA found that the elevator, escalator, cables and ticket stations and bus station at 6th Road were damaged severely and as per the initial estimate, we lost Rs40 million. However, we fear that the fire damaged the pillars and structure of the elevated road,” he said.

He said that the operation of bus service between Rawalpindi and Islamabad will remain suspended on Friday. “The deputy commissioners of Rawalpindi and Islamabad will give the go-ahead after security clearance but on Friday, Imran Khan will be produced in Islamabad High Court and on this occasion, the bus service will remain suspended,” he said.

On the other hand, the officials said that the bus service suffered a Rs9 million loss due to its suspension, as approximately Rs3 million is earned on a daily basis. — Aamir Yasin in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023