ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police on Thursday put Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid, G-B’s Home Minister Shams Lone and G-B’s Law Minister Sohail Abbas under house arrest at Gilgit-Baltistan House located in Red Zone.
Sources told We News that the three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have been put under virtual house arrest. A huge contingent of Islamabad police had also been deployed outside the Gilgit-Baltistan House, where several other PTI leaders had also reportedly taken refuge.
The latest development comes hours after the capital police arrested PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary-General Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Senator Falak Naz Chitrali, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Maleeka Bokhari and Musarrat Jamshed Cheema.
A spokesman for the Islamabad police said: “All the arrests were carried out after completing the legal requirements.”
The arrests and house arrests come two days after Rangers arrested PTI chief and former prime minister Imran in the Al-Qadir Trust case, which charged Imran Khan with receiving Rs5 billion from property tycoon Malik Riaz, who had received Rs50 billion during the PTI government after the UK’s National Crime Agency recovered the money to the Pakistani government.
The NAB reference says that the funds received from the UK were transferred to Bahria Town instead of the national exchequer.
Khalid Khurshid had stood by Imran Khan during his tribulation and on the day of Khan’s arrest, he was at the Islamabad High Court premises, where he also had an altercation with the Rangers personnel.
Khan Khurshid earlier, straightaway went to the Zaman Park residence of Imran Khan along with his armed guards to express his solidarity with his leader. His supporters admired his show of solidarity and defiance while his detractors accused him of using state machinery to save his leader.
