Islamabad police is currently conducting an operation inside the Parliament Lodges, according to footage seen on DawnNewsTV.
The police action came after members of Ansarul Islam, a uniformed volunteer force of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), entered the Parliament Lodges in large numbers.
Islamabad Inspector General of Police Muhammad Ahsan Younus took notice of the group’s presence inside the lodges.
According to a tweet posted from their official account, he suspended the police officials in charge at D-Chowk under whose watch the Ansarul Islam workers had entered the lodges, Subsequently, he took charge of the operation.
Rashid accuses JUI-F workers of beating, locking up police
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, while talking to Geo News, accused JUI-F of bringing 70 workers of Ansarul Islam inside the lodges.
“People were hidden inside the lodges,” he said. “We still wanted the matter to be resolved peacefully … but they beat and locked up police officials and did not hand over Ansarul Islam members.”
“We are also trying to prevent others from coming to parliament,” Rashid said.
JUI-F chief calls workers to head to capital
Meanwhile, chief of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance Maulana Fazlur Rahman has arrived at the lodges and also called on his party workers to gather in the capital.
PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique said he was in a meeting with Ayaz Sadiq when he was told that police had entered [the lodges]. “They said they have warrants for JUI-F workers. We tried to explain to them that you can’t enter the lodges this way,” he added, calling the move “illegal”.
Footage on Twitter showed police officials conducting a search inside the lodges and looking for “the ones in uniforms”.
