Fawad Chaudhry Arrested From Outside Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry Arrested Outside Supreme Court as Crackdown on Party Intensifies.

Late Wednesday night, Fawad Chaudhry, the Senior Vice President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was apprehended from outside the premises of the Supreme Court. 

The arrest came as authorities escalated their efforts to clamp down on the opposition party following the eruption of violent protests subsequent to the detention of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

In an attempt to evade arrest, Chaudhry had remained inside the Supreme Court for over 12 hours. However, upon exiting the apex court premises, he was taken into custody by the Islamabad police. 

Like other PTI leaders, Chaudhry was detained under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Ordinance (MPO) and subsequently transferred to the Secretariat Police Station.

Speaking to the media just minutes before his arrest, Chaudhry voiced his concerns about internal conflicts weakening the influential legal community.

He also emphasized the unusual nature of his arrest as a petitioner who had already obtained pre-arrest bail from the Islamabad High Court, which he had presented to the capital police earlier that day.

Expressing dismay over Khan's arrest from the court premises, Chaudhry argued that it had caused a division within the country. He called for allowing political opponents space for dialogue and reconciliation.

Prior to Chaudhry's arrest, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had detained PTI Secretary General Asad Umar from the Islamabad High Court, the same court where Khan was taken into custody. Umar was picked up outside the IHC Bar Room, where he and other PTI leaders were preparing a plea to be filed seeking a meeting with Khan.

Witnesses reported that PTI lawyers engaged in a scuffle with the police to prevent Umar's arrest, but were overpowered, and Umar was subsequently taken away by law enforcement officials.

To maintain law and order, the military has been deployed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Islamabad. The violent protests orchestrated by supporters of the former ruling party have claimed at least four lives in Peshawar, leading Sindh to impose Section 144 to contain the unrest.