Leader of Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz slammed on Friday the treasury benches after the Capital Development Authority razed parts of the PTI’s central office in Islamabad and sealed it.

“The fascism, oppression, violence that you have begun and this is all happening under your watch,” he said in his speech during the Senate session.

On Thursday, police and local authorities partially demolished a part of PTI’s central secretariat building in Islamabad before sealing the premises for allegedly violating building by-law. The CDA officials arrived with heavy machinery at the PTI office located in a commercial building in the G-8/4 sector late on Thursday night.

They razed two containers parked outside the building and a guard room and removed a fence allegedly erected on the civic body’s land.

According to the PTI, the action was taken in the presence of a United Nations delegation.

“You cannot do politics by force. You can take away our party symbol, jail our [party] chairman, demolish our offices, raid our homes but cannot erase the affection for Imran Khan from the hearts of the majority of 250 million people of this country,” the PTI senator said.

“Whatever oppression and tyranny you may do, it will be chronicled. […] It will be very upsetting when history will be written tomorrow,” he added and wondered why the incumbent took such a decision if they were aware of such reports.

Faraz demanded that his party workers, including Amir Mughal, should be released.

Faraz also criticised Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and PPP Senator Sherry Rehman for constituting the Finance Committee without his approval.

In response, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the CDA’s action was part of the campaign against encroachments.

“The first notice had been issued to the party [PTI] in 2020. Later, the notice was re-issued to them,” he said and added that maybe such notices were limited to papers due to the “clout”.

Last year, he said that the party was again reminded that it had constructed two floors without a map and approval and had placed containers and set up a parking shed in a public area.

He added that the last notice was sent to the PTI on May 10, citing that the action was in accordance with the law. “This is what I have been briefed,” he said and added that he had talked to the CDA chairman about the matter.

Tarar took “serious exception” to Faraz’s statement that the law minister makes “verbal attacks on the judiciary”.

According to the law minister, he owned every word of his speech in Wednesday’s session.