After an unexplained disappearance for more than 24 hours, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur made a surprise appearance during the provincial assembly session on Sunday.
Addressing the session that was convened to demand his recovery, the chief minister claimed he spent the night at the KP House.
He confirmed that a large number of Islamabad Police personnel and Rangers had forcefully entered the KP House to arrest him.
Earlier in the day, the KP assembly passed a resolution seeking measures to recover the “missing” chief minister.
The resolution, moved by Provincial Law Minister Aftab Alam, urged the speaker to seek reports from all the intelligence and other concerned institutions.
“Interior minister, KP governor should have informed the provincial government [about the matter],” read the resolution.
In light of the resolution, the KP speaker summoned IG, the chief secretary and CM’s principal secretary on Monday.
Background
Gandapur was leading a PTI protest convoy that he left behind near Hassan Abdal and decided to visit Islamabad for unknown reasons. After coming to the city, he went to the KP House which was raided by the police.
According to PTI, Rangers personnel had “forcefully entered” KP House to arrest CM Gandapur after he arrived in the capital to become a part of his party’s protest.
“This blatant abuse of power raises serious concerns about the state of lawlessness in Pakistan.
“After failing to stop the public from reaching Islamabad, they have now resorted to arresting a sitting chief minister of a province.
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“Those in key institutions are determined to push the country towards anarchy, solely to retain their illegitimate power, without realizing the irreparable damage they are inflicting on Pakistan.”
PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan had claimed that the KP chief minister had been “arrested illegally from KP House Islamabad.”
“Rangers and Islamabad Police have breached the territory of KP and have executed an illegal arrest,” Omar said in a post on X.
He wrote that the KP chief minister had been granted bail by the Peshawar High Court.
“CM Ali Amin Khan is part of the ‘state’ as defined in the Constitution.
“Rangers, Police, and Armed Forces are tools of the ‘state’. Has martial law been imposed in Pakistan??? This action will be the death knell for this Form 47 government.”
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