Imran Khan govt draws flak over 'thrashing' of JUI-F MNAs by police during operation in Parliament Lodges

The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is facing criticism for the "ridiculous attitude" of the Pakistan police during their "violent" operation in Parliament Lodges.

The police on Thursday stormed the Parliament Lodges and arrested several Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MNAs including Salahuddin Ayubi and Maulana Jamal-ud-Din.

Imran Khan's government has been facing backlash on social media for the "extremely shameful and reprehensible" act by the police.

According to the Express Tribune, the police stormed the lodges on a tip-off about the presence of volunteers of JUI-F's subsidiary Ansarul Islam and detained around 10 to 12 workers of the party.

Videos of the brutal arrest of the MNAs have gone viral on social media. #PTIAttacksParliament was trending on Twitter.

According to reports, Pakistan's law enforcement agency broke the door of the MNAs' room to make the arrests.

Videos on Twitter showed police officials conducting a search inside the lodges and looking for "the ones in uniforms". In separate videos, police officials were seen making arrests and forcing JUI-F workers out of the lodges.

Meanwhile, Dawn reported that chief of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance Maulana Fazlur Rahman, after arriving at the lodges, called on his party workers to gather in the Islamabad.

"Our volunteers got here peacefully," he said. "They (police) stormed into our lodges and attacked our MNA.

"I want to tell my party workers to either reach Islamabad or block roads in their cities and resist this incompetent govt," he added.

Justifying the operation, Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that those who have been arrested by the police were members of a "private militia"

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif condemned the operation and demanded immediate expulsion of police from the Parliament Lodges.

( With inputs from ANI )