ISLAMABAD: Mahmood Baqi Maulvi, a member of the National Assembly from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, announced parting ways with the party on Tuesday, throwing his weight behind the army amid a standoff off between arguably the country’s most powerful institution and its most popular political party.
Maulvi’s resignation from the party comes as the noose tightens against Khan’s party, with many of his closest aides under arrest and both the government and the army issuing hard-hitting statements saying Khan supporters and party leaders behind violent protests and destruction of military and state properties following the ex-premier’s arrest last week would be dealt with an iron hand.
Khan was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in Islamabad in a land fraud case on May 9, unleashing violent protests by his supporters who stormed military properties and establishments, set ablaze a state broadcaster building, smashed buses, ransacked a top army general’s house and attacked other assets, resulting in the army being deployed in multiple cities. Hundreds were arrested in the aftermath and at least six people were killed.
“We can change political parties but we cannot change our army. I have never gone against the army nor will I do it in the future,” Maulvi said at a press conference in Karachi.
He said party members had been discussing before May 9 that they would ransack the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi in case Khan was arrested:
“I told them we should not fight against the army because there is no reason for it.”
He called the actions of violent PTI supporters “indefensible,” adding: “It is not permissible to fight against the army anywhere.”
On Tuesday, the PTI said ex-interior minister Shehryar Afridi had been arrested, the latest among a growing number of close aides of the popular opposition leader who have been detained since last week.
“Ex-interior minister Shehryar Afridi has been picked up this time, not alone but along with his wife who has no political affiliation,” the PTI tweeted early on Tuesday morning.
Police also arrested Khan aide Fayyazul Hassan Chohan and raided the residence of Sheikh Rashid but could not detain him.
Many of the PTI leaders have been taken into custody using a law related to the maintenance of public order.
Appearing before the Islamabad High Court for the hearing of a petition against his arrest, Hussain, a former information minister and one of Khan’s closest aides, called the case against him “a joke.”
“If we get bail in this case, they will rearrest us in another one,” Hussain told reporters as police brought him to the court for the hearing.
Hours later, Hussain was granted bail by the IHC and was leaving the court when police tried to arrest him again. The former information minister quickly ran back into the courtroom to avoid being arrested. Videos of the scene have been widely shared on social media and become the subject of countless memes.
Meanwhile, the IHC declared the arrest of former human rights minister Mazari “illegal” and ordered her immediate release, local media widely reported. An anti-terrorism court in Lahore also refused to grant police physical remand for Rashid, a former health minister, and ordered that she be transferred to the police lines hospital on account of poor health.
Top Khan aide Ali Akbar Zaidi also said he had been released from prison but was under house arrest.
On Monday, Khan’s PTI had said 7,000 supporters and leaders of the party, including women, had been arrested by the police “without any investigation” following protests unleashed by Khan’s arrest last week.
