Parliament house, MNA lodges to be handed over to rangers, FC: Sheikh Rashid

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday said in a meeting they decided to hand over the parliament house, MNA lodges and old MNA house to rangers and Frontier Corps for security on the day of no-confidence motion to avoid any untoward incident which could become a reason for bad image of the country.

“If any MNA wants security then the government is ready to provide security,” Sheikh Rashid said talking to media in Islamabad.

He said the government had suspended six police officials under whose watch Ansarul Islam workers entered the Parliament Lodges in the federal capital.

Last night, Islamabad police had arrested Jamiat Ulema e Islam-F (JUI-F) MNAs Maulana Salauddin Ayubi, Maulana Jamal-ud-Din and workers of Ansarul Islam force from Parliament Lodges in an operation.

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Islamabad Inspector General of Police Muhammad Ahsan Younus had taken notice of the group’s presence inside the lodges. According to a tweet posted from the capital police’s official account, he had suspended the officials in charge at D-Chowk under whose watch the Ansarul Islam workers had entered the lodges. Subsequently, he had personally led the operation.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed condemned the JUI-F’s bringing militia force to protect MNAs. He said 362 families lived there, including 53 senators and 278 MNAs.

“I do not want to spread terror but there are intelligence reports according to which two people — one Maulana Fazl ur Rehman and the other I, Sheikh Rashid — are at risk and both of us have already been attacked thrice,” he said.

He said the AUI workers tortured police, resultantly five police officials were injured. The government had appointed a deputy commissioner to submit an inquiry report into the incident, he said adding that they had not filed terrorism case against anybody.

On the no-trust motion, the interior minister said he could say this with full confidence that the opposition did not have 172 members. He said former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Imran Khan were using Maulana Fazl ur Rehman.

Read more: Parliament becomes battlefield as police arrest JUI-F MNAs, workers of Ansarul Islam