KPK CM Gandapur back in Peshawar, PTI criticises govt for arresting party leaders

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said on Tuesday that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has reached Peshawar from Islamabad, a day after some PTI members said they were unable to contact him.

PTI lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha in a post on X said the CM was back in the KPK House in Islamabad and was fine.

“Thank you all for raising your voice and ensuring his release,” Panjutha said.

The lawyer said Gandapur would depart for Peshawar from KPK House.

On Monday, Panjutha said that the CM had been missing since 7pm and the Advocate General KPK will file a petition in the Islamabad High Court tomorrow for his recovery.

“He has been kidnapped by Islamabad police and intelligence agencies,” he had claimed.

PTI MPA Meena Khan Afridi also claimed that “party leadership, KPK cabinet members and the CM’s family members” were not able to contact Gandapur for six to seven hours.

Meanwhile, the police detained several PTI lawmakers and leaders in raids a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand PTI founding chairman Imran Khan’s release.

Police detained four individuals, a spokesman said, although PTI said 13 had been picked up from various places in Islamabad, including some from outside parliament.

PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat, Shoaib Shaheen, and the party Chairman Gohar Ali Khan were also arrested.

The crackdown comes a day after the party’s gathering on the city’s outskirts to demand Imran’s release was marred by clashes between supporters and police that injured a senior police official, the police said.

The party said the violence erupted after the police lobbed teargas canister at a peaceful assembly in a bid to disperse it.

Arrest outside parliament despicable

Moreover, in a letter addressed to NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub termed the arrests of Gohar and Marwat “just outside parliament” as “despicable”.

Whereas, Zulfikar Bukhari called the detentions illegal.

“Yesterday’s massive protest has sent shivers down the government’s spine,” he said.

In his address at the floor of the Parliament today, PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan said that what happened on Monday night was 9 May for Pakistan’s democracy.

“Today, I am making a case on democracy.”