ISLAMABAD: A former chairman of the Senate, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, allegedly assaulted a police officer on Wednesday which led to the registration of a case, police told Dawn.

According to the FIR that was registered, the incident took place in front of the office of the District and Sessions Judge West, inside the premises of the lower court in F-8 Markaz where police and civil defence officials were deployed for security duty.

A high alert was declared Wednesday morning in the capital due to threats and all officials on security duty were told to be extra vigilant, the police said, adding that at about 9:30am Head Constable Mohammad Riaz of the Islamabad Police Special Branch tried to conduct body search of two persons entering through the metal detector gate installed.

One of the men objected to the search and hurled verbal abuses at the head constable. The police sources said that the man who had objected was told that the search was being conducted according to orders issued by the sessions’ court. However, he continued to object to the search.

The man accompanying him then slapped the head constable after which police and civil defence officials intervened.

“They threatened the officers of consequences and pushed their way through,” a police official said.

The men were later identified as former Senate chairman Nayyar Hussain Bukhari and one of his guards.

The officials said that after the incident, orders were issued by the Centre Police Office to pursue the case and secure the arrest of the former Senate chairman.

When asked about these orders, Inspector General of Police Islamabad Tariq Masood Yasin was hesitant to answer.

“I don’t want to answer your question, but I am not denying anything either,” he said.

Mr Bukhari was unavailable for comment, despite repeated attempts but did issue a statement via email in which he said that a suspicious man in civilian clothes had tried to touch him when he was entering the court’s compound.

“In response, his official guard and junior lawyers pushed the man to separate them,” the statement reads and also maintains that “no one was slapped or threatened”.

The statement goes on to say that the incident is a conspiracy against Mr Bukhari and his long affiliation with PPP. It was because of administrative incompetence that an unidentified man had tried to touch him when he was a well-known politician and when a high alert had been declared in the city, the statement continues.

Those who registered a case against him did what they wanted, the statement says and that the former Senate chairman reserves his legal rights and will reply in a legal way.

The case against the former Senate chairman was registered at the Margalla police station.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016