May 17, 2023
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shireen Mazari and Malika Bokhari were on Wednesday arrested again, hours after they were released from custody on Islamabad High Court's (IHC) orders.
Officials, on the condition of anonymity, told Geo News Mazari had been arrested by women personnel of the Punjab Police under Section 4 of the Maintenance of Public Order.
Her daughter, Imaan Mazari, confirmed the arrest of her mother a third time on her Twitter handle and said: “They have taken her again”.
Before Mazari’s arrest, her daughter also posted a video showing police officials arriving outside the PTI leader's residence in the federal capital.
Speaking to the media, Imaan said her mother was released earlier today on the court’s order but rearrested under Section 4 of the MPO.
She said Mazari was released from Adiala Jail yesterday as well only to be taken into the custody the same day.
Most of the personnel who came to arrest her were from Punjab police, Imaan said adding that the PTI leader had to appear in the IHC tomorrow (Thursday).
Earlier today, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) barred the authorities from arresting Mazari and PTI Senator Falak Naz Chitrali.
The court had also stopped authorities from further investigating the two politicians when they appeared before the judge hearing a plea seeking relief from further arrest.
"No further investigation is needed from Falak Naz and Shireen Mazari," the judge remarked.
Meanwhile, another PTI leader Maleeka Bokhari was also arrested again after she was released from jail.
The IHC had earlier today ordered the release of Bokhari. However, the Punjab Police rearrested Malika hours after her release.
According to police sources, Bokhari was arrested from outside Adiala Jail and the police shifted took her to an unknown location.
Likewise, PTI leader Mohammad Khan was also arrested again outside the district jail in Jhelum.
Punjab police officials took Ali Muhammad Khan into custody and shifted him to an unknown location after he was released on the orders of the IHC.
The arrests are part of the ongoing crackdown on the PTI leaders and workers over their alleged involvement in ransacking and torching military and public properties after party chief Imran Khan's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case on May 9.
The deadly protests took the lives of at least 10 people and injured several others, with the authorities not only arresting the party leaders but thousands of PTI workers as well.
The military and the government have decided that the vandals involved in the attacks on defence installations would be tried under the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act.