PTI’s Farrukh Habib and several others have been detained on charges of “dacoity.”
Workers of the party who attempted to prevent the police from taking Fawad Chaudhry from Lahore to Islamabad have been charged.
Farrukh Habib, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and party members were arrested on Friday for attempting to obstruct the police convoy that was transporting senior leader Fawad Chaudhry from Lahore to Islamabad after being placed on transit remand on Wednesday.
A first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, was filed at the Ferozwala police station in response to a complaint made by SHO Adeel Shaukat of the Islamabad police. The PTI employees were charged with “dacoity,” among other offences.
Fawad Chaudhry, a former minister, was detained on suspicion of inciting violence against a constitutional institution and sedition.
After that, PTI leaders expressed their concerns and distress over the arrest and urged his immediate release.
Arrests should not be used as a form of argumentation. Asad Umar, the general secretary of the PTI, had stated to the media that the coalition government should appear in court to show Fawad (the speaker) that he was mistaken.
Fawad’s cousin also pleaded against the arrest on Wednesday in the Lahore High Court (LHC). According to the petitioner, his cousin was detained “illegally, unconstitutionally, and without legal authority.”
In his petition, he urged the court to order police officers to free his cousin from his “illegal and unlawful confinement” and bring him before the high court.
The judge repeatedly instructed authorities to present the PTI leader before the court, so the hearing was postponed at least four times.
Farrukh Habib, a senior party leader, expressed his displeasure and demanded that those responsible for failing to produce Fawad before the LHC be prosecuted. He had pleaded with the legal system to punish the Punjab IGP.
Although Fawad’s detention was “not illegal,” an LHC bench led by Justice Tariq Saleem had rejected the argument.
