The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shehryar Afridi and Ali Muhammad Khan were detained immediately after being freed from Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison on Tuesday, as part of the continuing crackdown on the party in connection with the May 9 attacks on civil and military sites.
Afridi and his wife were arrested on May 16 from their Islamabad home under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960, which allows the government to arrest anybody “acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety.” His wife, on the other hand, was subsequently freed on the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Soon after his release from the prison, police officers arrested him again and brought him to an unknown place.
Afridi was freed after completing his “house arrest” time under the MPO, according to the prison administration.
It is worth noting that Afridi’s home detention under MPO has been extended for another 15 days by the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner.
Similarly, on May 21, Ali Muhammad was detained in Islamabad by Islamabad police under Section 3 of the MPO.
On the ruling of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench, he was freed from detention earlier today.
However, the PTI leader was apprehended outside the Adiala Jail early today by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police under Section 3 of the MPO, Islamabad police said in a statement.
The pair were seized as violent demonstrations erupted throughout the nation in response to the detention of PTI leader Imran Khan from the IHC in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Enraged PTI members reportedly vandalised private and public facilities, including military installations — the Lahore Corps Commander’s House or Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) entrance — during the days-long rallies, which stopped only after Khan’s release. During the violent demonstrations, at least eight individuals were killed.