Three Pakistani parliamentarians arrested in Pakistan

Three Pakistani parliamentarians arrested in Pakistan

Pakistan arrests senator over comments about army chief

Rizek and the others were detained after attending a weekly prayer meeting.

New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) A top official of the Pakistani parliament, a senator and activists from an organisation linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested Tuesday on charges of allegedly being part of a secret group that plotted against the army chief and was planning to bomb a bus carrying army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Lahore soon after his return from China.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said the arrests of the three parliamentarians – Rizek, Abdul Qayyum and Usman Ghani – were a result of an action plan that was formulated after three months of “intelligence exchanges” between the government and the LeT.

Earlier, two other activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – the party of Imran Khan – were arrested when they attended a parliament meeting.

They were, however, released without any court proceedings.

“It is clear that the Indian government is not willing to take any action against these three.

“Instead Pakistani intelligence has leaked about the existence of the three parliamentarians to the Indian media,” Chaudhry told reporters.

Rizek, a parliamentarian with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and the others were detained after attending a weekly prayer meeting to protest against the arrest of an activist of an organisation linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) from the Lahore High Court.

The three suspects – one belonging to the PPP and the other two to the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) – were picked up by intelligence agents of the Pakistani secret services from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi around 7:30 am and taken to various police stations for questioning.

Soon after the detentions were announced, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e

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