ISLAMABAD: Police have detained scores of protesters, including Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leaders Abdullah Nangyal, Gulalai Ismail and Pashteen Idrees, over their participation in a protest against the “extrajudicial killing” of Professor Arman Loni.
Nangyal, a core committee member of the PTM, along with social activist and PTM members Gulalai Ismail and Pashteen Idrees, were among more than 80 demonstrators who were rounded up by the police in a bid to scuttle the protest.
The development was shared by Gulalai on her Facebook page and MNA Mohsin Dawar on his Twitter account.
Sharing the details of the arrest on her timeline at the time of the detention, Gulalai wrote she was being taken to G-7 Markaz Police Station along with all the other participants who had gathered outside the National Press Club (NPC).
Speaking to Pakistan Today, PTM and Awami Workers Party (AWP) leader Ismat Shahjehan confirmed that at least 82 protesters had been rounded up and that it was not yet clear whether they would be formally charged or if FIRs were being registered against them.
She went on to add that members of the Women’s Democratic Front (WDF), of which Ismail is a member, had gone to see her at the women’s jail but had not been allowed to meet her. “Her friends saw her there so we know she is safe, but we do not know whether she is being charged or how long she is being held for,” she added.
Islamabad SP (City) Sayd Aziz was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts.
It may be noted that the PTM had issued a countrywide call for protests after one of its members, Arman Loni, was reportedly killed by police in a crackdown on a sit-in in Loralai.