ISLAMABAD/ RAWALPINDI/ MULTAN/KARACHI/QUETTA/PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday notified the disqualification of nine legislators, including the Leaders of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Senate, Omar Ayub Khan and Syed Shibli Faraz, respectively.
The Election Commission issued the notification in the wake of these lawmakers’ convictions by the Anti-Terrorism Courts on May 9 incidents. Besides Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz, the other MPs include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Zartaj Gul, MNAs Rai Haider Ali, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan and three MPAs from Punjab, Ansar Iqbal, Junaid Afzal, and Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal. The constituencies of these legislators’ seats have been declared vacant.
The ECP notification said, “In pursuance of orders dated 31.07.2025 passed by the Anti-Terrorism Court Faisalabad, in case No. 43/ATC/FSD/2023, Trial No. 77/ATC/FSD/2024 & 45/ATC/FSD/2023, Trial No. 76/ATC/FSD/2024 and 47/ATC/FSD/2023, Trial No. 78/ATC/FSD/2024 titled ‘State Vs Muhammad Ali etc’, ‘State Vs Asif etc’ and ‘State Vs Awais Akbar’ respectively. Wherein Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub Khan, MNA from NA-18 Haripur, Rai Haider Ali Khan, MNA from NA-96 Faisalabad-II, Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza, MNA from NA-104 Faisalabad-X, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, MNA from NA-143 Sahiwal-III, Zartaj Gul, MNA from NA-185 D.G Khan-II, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, MPA from PP-73 Sargodha-III, Junaid Afzal Sahi, MPA from PP-98 Faisalabad-I and Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, MPA from PP-203 Sahiwal-VI, have been convicted and sentenced for imprisonment.”
It further said, “As a consequence, Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub Khan, MNA from NA-18 Haripur, Rai Haider Ali Khan, MNA from NA-96 Faisalabad-II, Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza, MNA from NA-104 Faisalabad-X, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, MNA from NA-143 Sahiwal-III, Zartaj Gul, MNA from NA-185 D.G Khan-II, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, MPA from PP-73 Sargodha-III, Junaid Afzal Sahi, MPA from PP-98 Faisalabad-I and Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, MPA from PP-203 Sahiwal-VI are hereby disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and are hereby de-notified. Consequently, their seats have become vacant.”
Following the notification, the Election Commission suspended NA-175 Muzaffargarh-I election schedule (Sept 10 Polling) due to LHC order, following Jamshed Dasti’s disqualification over a fake degree.
In his reaction to disqualifications, PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, noted that this ‘disqualification spree’ is a wave of illegal disqualifications targeting specific lawmakers of PTI and is without any procedural consistency or final judicial determination. He insisted that this raises the spectre of selective accountability and institutional overreach by the ECP, whose constitutional role is to be an impartial arbiter in electoral matters and not a substitute trial or appellate court. “Such actions are politically motivated and legally unsustainable under settled principles of law. The ECP has violated due process and fair trial guarantees under Article 10A of the Constitution.”
Senator Ali Zafar argued that clearly, the conviction must be final and not sub judice. He insisted that a mere trial court conviction does not attain finality if an appeal is pending before a higher court. “Unless conviction is upheld by the highest appellate forum, the ECP cannot assume the disqualification has materialised. Furthermore, under Article 63(1)(h), disqualification takes place if a person has been convicted of moral turpitude and sentenced to more than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since release.”
In addition, Article 10A guarantees fair trial, the essential ingredient of which is that a person retains the presumption of innocence until all remedies are exhausted. If ECP begins to disqualify persons based on non-final convictions or FIRs/investigations, it amounts to pre-judging guilt, which is unconstitutional, he claimed.
PTI Information Secretary Sh. Waqas Akram also strongly condemned the ‘unconstitutional and politically motivated move’ by the ECP to de-notify nine of its elected lawmakers. He alleged that this brazen action, dictated by the illegitimate regime, is a glaring example of how state institutions are being weaponised to dismantle democracy, suppress the opposition, and enforce controlled fascist rule. Waqas charged that the government’s deliberate misuse of state machinery to engineer disqualifications and remove constitutionally elected representatives was not only a naked assault on democratic norms but also a sinister attempt to convert Pakistan into a totalitarian state.
Meanwhile, the PTI conducted countrywide protests in connection with the ‘Free Imran Movement’. Police arrested more than 240 opposition party activists on Tuesday. At least 122 were arrested trying to block roads and threatening law and order in Lahore, said Deputy Inspector General of police Faisal Kamran. The remainder were picked up in overnight raids in the province, two security officials said. Party spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari said over 200 activists were detained in Lahore alone. Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for Punjab’s provincial government, said the PTI cannot be allowed to create chaos by holding the protests, a charge the party’s spokesperson denied.
Rawalpindi stayed calm after PTI ex-chairman’s protest call failed. Key roads like Murree Road and Mall Road were cordoned off. Some 4,000 police were deployed and flag marches conducted. Major centres like Raja Bazaar and Saddar remained open while security was tightened around the Adiala jail.
Lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Salman Safdar, Niazullah Niazi, Owais Younis Chaudhry, Zaheer Abbas, and Shamsa Kiani were denied meeting their client at Adiala jail. Only Niazullah Niazi, Owais Younis Chaudhry and Shamsa Kiani managed to reach the jail but were sent back from Gate 5. Senator Dr. Humayun was stopped at Dahgal. Niazullah Niazi said he was denied a meeting despite LHC orders. Imran Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, and Noreen Khanum Niazi, along with cousin Qasim Khan, were stopped at Chakri Interchange. Others barred from reaching Adiala included Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Barrister Salman Akram Raja and Shandana Gulzar. Aleema Khan stated they only wanted to meet her brother, not participate in protests.
In a related development, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) condemned the ‘unlawful raid’ conducted by the Islamabad Police in civvies at the residence of the daughter of Dr. Babar Awan, Advocate, Supreme Court, at Islamabad.
In the case of Multan, neither any PTI worker could stage even a symbolic protest nor were PTI flags seen on roads and chowks.
The PTI Burewala chapter managed a protest at the local bar room. It was led by PTI Burewala President Malik Furqan Yousaf Khokhar, Advocate and attended by party office-bearers, lawyers, and workers.
In the case of Karachi, police disrupted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rally which was being taken out for the release of its party founder by firing tear gas shells and resorting to baton charge.
The protesters gathered at the Civic Centre area and took out a rally towards the Quaid-e-Azam Mausoleum; however, they were intercepted by the police at the old Sabzi Mandi, where the police used baton charge and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Addressing PTI supporters at the Civic Centre, PTI Sindh leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said that Imran Khan’s two-year “unjust and politically motivated” imprisonment had exposed the state of justice system in Pakistan. “Fake cases were filed against our leader; his wife Bushra Bibi was also targeted as part of a revenge campaign,” he said. “Many PTI leaders have been sentenced without trial and thousands of workers remain imprisoned.”
He accused the state of undermining the judiciary following the 26th Constitutional Amendment, alleging that favourite judges had been appointed to subvert justice.
Haleem Adil Sheikh condemned police action, alleging scores of PTI supporters, including women, were injured. He claimed many activists were arrested in places like Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Larkana, stating “These unjustified arrests prove this is not a democracy, but a dictatorship afraid of PTI’s growing public support.”
In Balochistan, police foiled the attempt of PTI activists to cut off Balochistan’s link with Punjab through the Loralai-Dera Ghazi Khan National Highway and restored traffic after an hour of blockade at Barkhan.
Earlier, the PTI workers gathered at the highway near Barkhan and blocked the road, burning tyres and putting up barricades. A large number of vehicles were stuck on both sides of the highway. However, police reached the site and used baton charge to disperse the protesters.
The local administration held talks with the protesters, which remained successful, after which the road was completely opened for traffic.
In Quetta, PTI leadership along with PkMAP workers took out a rally which reached Meezan Chowk, where leaders addressed the participants who chanted slogans against the government. However, police and officials from the local administration reached the site and terminated the rally, informing them that Section 144 has been imposed in Quetta and, under the law, they cannot hold public gatherings.
Police on the occasion arrested around 40 activists of PTI and PkMAP and took them to the city police station. “Police kept the arrested activists in custody for an hour and later released them,” a senior police official said, adding that no FIR was registered against the detained PTI and PkMAP workers and they were allowed to go home.
Around 35 women workers from the opposition PTI also staged a protest in front of the Quetta Press Club, carrying banners inscribed with anti-government slogans. The provincial President of PTI Women Wing, Balochistan, Safia Kakar, who led the protest, said the local administration has not allowed PTI workers to take out protest marches and has put hurdles at various places in Quetta city.
The PTI staged simultaneous protest rallies across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to mark two years of the incarceration of party founder Imran Khan and to demand his release from jail.
While the demonstrations drew large crowds in Peshawar, Swabi, Chakdara, Buner and other parts of the province, they also exposed sharp internal divisions within the party, with multiple power centres organising separate events, diverging strategies and public disagreements that overshadowed PTI’s intended message of unity.
In the provincial capital, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur led the main rally, which departed from Hayatabad Toll Plaza at 4 p.m. and reached Bala Hisar Fort around 10:30 p.m., over two hours behind schedule.
Speaking outside the Bala Hisar Fort, Gandapur hailed the massive turnout as an “unprecedented expression of public will.” He declared that the people of Peshawar had proven Imran Khan was not alone, describing the gathering as a historic moment in the province’s political history. “Such a public rally has never been seen or heard of before,” he said.
The chief minister added that for over six hours, a sea of supporters had occupied the roads, showing the world that Peshawar stood by Imran Khan like a wall of steel.
Meanwhile, some party workers protested when the chief minister left the venue ‘early’. The discontented workers raised slogans against the CM.
In his reaction, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said that he only delivered a brief message to the workers at Firdous Chowk because the rally had stretched over several kilometres, making a formal speech impossible. “There had never been any plan for a public address.” He added that he made it clear during his remarks that Imran Khan had directed the next course of action to be announced on August 14, and that a new plan would accordingly be unveiled on that date.
A PTI rally in Peshawar, led by Taimur Jhagra, Sher Ali Khan and Kamran Bangash, travelled via Ring Road and GT Road to Qila Bala Hisar, causing traffic disruptions in areas like Saddar. A container hit an 11,000-volt power line on Ring Road, causing an explosion, but no one was injured. A parallel protest occurred in Swabi at Ambar Interchange, led by Asad Qaiser, Atif Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai and Ahmed Khan Niazi, blocking the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway. However, the rally descended into chaos when workers split into two factions—one advocating a complete motorway blockade until Khan’s release, and the other resisting the move. The disagreement led to scuffles, further highlighting the party’s internal discord.
Yet the Swabi protest also marked a pivotal realignment in the party’s provincial leadership.
Key leaders Atif Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai, and Junaid Akbar Khan made their first joint appearance, seen as endorsing Junaid Akbar’s role as PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President, potentially boosting cohesion. Protests occurred in Malakand Division at Chakdara Interchange led by Junaid Akbar Khan, and in Buner at Sawari Chowk, where Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Syed Fakhar Jahan addressed a large gathering in PK-26. Fakhar Jahan stated Imran Khan has been unjustly imprisoned for 2 years, with party members facing pressure. The protests highlighted PTI’s fragmented planning, with multiple independent rallies.
