QUETTA: Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Malik Baloch suspended a senior police official on Thursday after policemen tried to stop private security guards of senior minister Sanaullah Zehri from entering the Balochistan Assembly.
Taking suo moto notice of the suspension of Superintendent of Quetta Police Samiullah Soomro by the chief minister, Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Qazi Faez Isa has ordered the chief secretary, Inspector General of Police, the home secretary, Advocate General Balochistan, Quetta police chief and other concerned officials to appear in court on Friday.
Armed men are not allowed to enter the assembly premises as per the directives of speaker Balochistan Assembly Jan Muhammad Jamali.
The private guards of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, who is the provincial chief of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), clashed with the policemen deployed outside the assembly building.
However, justifying the suspension of the senior police official, Chief Minister Malik Baloch said that since Sardar Zehri had tribal disputes therefore his private security guards closely guard him.
Private security guards of the senior minister were entering the Balochistan Assembly premises in their private vehicles when police stopped them at the gate.
The policemen on duty objected to the weapons and private armed guards of Sardar Zehri’s guards following which hot words were exchanged between police and Zehri’s private guards.
Sardar Zehri entered Balochistan Assembly and voted for two general seats of Senate during the Senate polls held today.
Police men deployed in and outside the Balochistan Assembly staged a protest after the incident.
Chief Minister Dr. Malik Baloch and Speaker of Balochistan Assembly Jan Muhammad Jamali later convinced the protesting policemen to return to their duties.
Speaker Balochistan Assembly had issued clear directives to policemen that “no armed person is allowed to enter the assembly premises,” they said.
A police official, who was part of the protest and did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that the incident had affected the morale of policemen.
“Now we cannot stop any influential personality’s private guards after this incident”, he said.