Pakistan experienced a dramatic turn of events on Tuesday when plainclothesmen raided the Parliament House in the early morning hours, rounding up PTI lawmakers after cutting off the power supply.
The incident sparked intense debate during the day’s National Assembly session, with leaders from both sides condemning the raid as an attack on democracy.
The unprecedented action took place just after 3 a.m., when plainclothes officers entered the Services Branch of the Parliament House to detain PTI members. According to sources, the operation was led by SSP Operations Arsalan Jahanzeb, who had positioned a police contingent outside Parliament for hours. After the power supply was disconnected, MNAs including Zain Qureshi, Amir Dogar, Sheikh Waqqas Akram, and Naseem Ali Shah were taken into custody and handed over to the police for further action.
Later in the day, during the National Assembly session, tempers flared as lawmakers across party lines expressed their outrage. PTI leader Ali Mohammad Khan described the incident as a dark chapter in Pakistan’s parliamentary history, criticizing the raid as a violation of democratic values. He questioned the identity of the masked men who entered Parliament and condemned the arrests.
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai pointed out that the arrests highlighted an ongoing struggle between democratic and anti-democratic forces in the country. PPP leader Naveed Qamar echoed the sentiment, calling for measures to prevent such actions in the future.
However, some PML-N members, while opposing the incursion, criticized the PTI for its own controversial actions, such as the 2014 sit-in outside Parliament. Federal Minister Rana Tanveer and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif argued that the crackdown on PTI was a response to the party’s recent remarks during a rally in Sangjani.
In response to the incident, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ordered an immediate investigation and called for CCTV footage from all entry points of the Parliament House. He assured that action would be taken against those responsible and emphasized the need to protect the dignity of Parliament. The speaker also held discussions with parliamentary leaders to establish guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, a bill to increase the number of Supreme Court judges was introduced in the National Assembly. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, proposed by PML-N lawmaker Danyal Chaudhry, seeks to increase the number of judges in the apex court to 23.