Police have identified at least 15 members of the Punjab Assembly in their initial investigation into the assault on Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari during the session that was called for the election of the chief minister (CM) on Saturday.
The suspects include PML-Q’s leader and the candidate from PTI for the post of CM, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi with others. PTI members caused a commotion as they brought “lotas” to the house. They chanted “lota, lota” (turncoats) as they assailed dissident lawmakers who had broken off from the party and made the decision to support the opposition.
According to the police investigation, a retired major named Faisal, who was the chief security officer of Elahi, could be seen in footage bringing private people into the premises of the house. A total of 15 MPAs including Elahi and his chief security officer could be spotted in the footage clearly.
According to the official documents, the 14 MPAs other than Elahi included Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Umar Tanveer, Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi, Malik Taimoor Masood, Khayyal Ahmad Kastro, Mohammad Waris Aziz, Umar Farooq, Shahbaz Ahmad, Malik Nadeem Abbas, Mahinder Pall Singh, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nadeem Qureshi, Mohammad Ali Raza Khan Khakwani, Ejaz Khan and Shujahat Nawaz of the PML-Q.
The suspects thrashed and manhandled Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari, which could also be seen in the live footage run on the news channels. They tortured Mazari and did not let him proceed with the session.
His security staff and lawmakers from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz came for his help and rescued him from the mob attack. The document stated that suspects violated the law of the land bringing disgrace to the sanctity of the provincial assembly.
The FIR was registered on a complaint of DSP Shahzad Manzoor at the Qilla Gujjar Singh Police Station against unidentified persons after the incident.
