Mazari, Maleeka rearrested hours after release

ISLAMABAD (Agencies): 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 media 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.
Earlier on Wednesday, 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 on Wednesday 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.
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday declared the detention of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Muhammad Khan and Maleeka Bukhari unlawful and issued orders for their immediate release.
Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the petition against the detention of PTI leaders under the MPO (Maintenance of Public Order). It may be noted that after the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan, police detained several leaders, including Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in view of the fear of disruption of peace.
The law-enforcement agencies launched a massive crackdown on PTI leaders, workers and supporters across the country as a large number of party’s protesters including dozens of leaders were arrested and cases were filed against them for resorting to violent protests, torching public as well as private properties and vehicles especially Lahore Corp Commander’s house. Ali Muhammad Khan and Maleeka Bukhari were arrested in Islamabad on May 11. As the protests turned violent across the country after the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case, the Shehbaz-led government tightened the noose around the PTI leaders and activists, arresting key leaders including women. Since Imran Khan’s arrest on Tuesday, angry mobs attacked several public and private properties including army-owned buildings, torched vehicles and injured several law enforcers.