The arrested politicians include two former MNAs, Ataullah Niazi and Faheem Khan and another party member Rai Tanveer. The development comes after Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangir dismissed their request for pre-arrest interim bail.
Earlier this month, the same judge had granted them bail, which he revoked today, after hearing arguments presented by the complainant’s legal counsel Raja Nazeer, and the defendant’s legal representative, Faisal Siddique. The three PTI members were then arrested outside the courtroom.
On March 18, the two PTI lawmakers had led a crowd of charged protestors towards Sindh House, where they alleged ‘dissident’ PTI members had been holed up by the opposition. They shouted slogans, knocked down a gate and carried in their hands plastic lotas, meant to shame the ‘traitors’.
Following this, the police had registered an FIR against the PTI members involved, charging them with vandalism and destruction of government property.
Former prime minister Imran Khan had accused the opposition parties of engaging in horse-trading ahead of the no confidence motion, and of shielding around two dozen of PTI’s ‘dissident’ MNAs.