Pakistan : Police said that on Friday, armed suspects attacked a group of three police vans near Sangjiani Toll Plaza outside of Islamabad.
After appearing before the district magistrate earlier today, the vans were transferring 82 inmates to Attock Jail, according to a statement from the Islamabad Police spokesperson. Two lawmakers from the PTI and four members of the party were among the 82 inmates.
According to the statement, “About 20 suspects riding in four vehicles attacked the prisoner vans near Sangjani Toll Plaza,” and the suspects were armed with sticks, stones, and weapons.
The statement continued, “In the attack, four police officers were injured, and four attackers were arrested.” The suspects’ two automobiles and weapons were seized.
The statement says that teams were put together to catch the suspects, and police also started searching different areas. All of the escaped prisoners were caught by police.
It continued, “The police teams handled the situation very bravely.”
Court appearance
Prior, Region Justice Muhammad Azhar Nadeem managed a conference for the ID march of the 82 suspects, excusing the case as they had been introduced in courts and, subsequently, their character was known to the police and the complainant.
Dawn.com has seen the court order, which states that these suspects were taken into custody on October 4 at the PTI rally in Islamabad. The accused’s attorney stated that 42 of them were Rescue 1122 personnel and 34 were police officers. Anwar Zeb and Malik Liaquat Khan, both MPAs for the PTI, are among the six PTI members detained.
Despite a ban on public gatherings, PTI protesters attempted to reach Islamabad’s D-Chowk for a party rally on October 4 when police fired tear gas to disperse them. At least 30 protesters were arrested.
According to the court’s order, “[The] request to send the accused for identification parade is declined, and all of them are hereby discharged from the instant case.” They must be released immediately unless otherwise required.
PTI MNA Sheikh Waqqas Akram issued a video statement in which he said, “PTI members will not run.” He also said that police officers from the Tarnol police station were behind the attack on the convoy.
In a video statement that the party posted on X, he said, “I am speaking with regard to 82 of our people who were presented in court in an FIR (first information report) registered in Sangjiani and the judge discharged them.” “When all of them in the FIR were discharged, they were named in another secretariat FIR and arrested again.” After that, three prison vans were being used to transport them to Attock Jail. Akram went on to say that MPAs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were among the 82 “party people.”
Akram stated, “Suddenly, near Faisal Town, the vans were turned around and stopped within the jurisdiction of Tarnol police station when these people were being transferred to Attock Jail.”
“Tarnol SHO Shabbir Tanoli and his group broke the jail van windows, opened the entryways and powerfully took out the detainees and made them stand,” the MNA claimed. ” After that, they urged them to flee.
The PTI members, according to Akram, are still present at the scene, where they, he claimed, told police, “We refuse to run.” He said that authorities would “try to trap our people in another case… another FIR” and urged journalists to go to the scene.
Akram issued a stern warning, “We strongly condemn this, and our KP government and our people will take strict action against this.” We will not forgive anyone for this kind of behavior.
In a televised address, “planned-out attack” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that the PTI carried out the attack to free prisoners and that the suspects would be arrested.
Tarar stated, “This was a planned attack.” KP MPA Liaquat Sahibzada and four other suspects have been apprehended following the attack, which resulted in the recovery of two vehicles and two weapons.
