PESHAWAR: The police arrested former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPAs Arbab Waseem and Malik Wajid here on Saturday after their pre-arrest bail pleas were turned down by an anti-terrorism court in a case of May 9 and 10 violent protests.

Judge Dr Aamir Nazir pronounced the order after the conclusion of arguments by the counsel for two suspects as well as the state prosecutors.

The prosecutor insisted that the two former lawmakers were required in a case registered at the Khan Razig Shaheed police station on May 10 under the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.

He said enough evidence of involvement in riots was available on record against the suspects, so they were not entitled to the concession of bail.

In the FIR, the police alleged that several PTI leaders, including former ministers, MPAs and local body members, staged violent protests in the provincial capital following the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan.

They all were accused of attacking and ransacking public property, the Frontier College for Women, and ATMs, firing gunshots killing a man and injuring several, and torching an ambulance of the Edhi Foundation.

The lawyers for petitioners contended that they were falsely implicated in the instant case and there was no evidence on record to connect them with the commission of offence.

Meanwhile, the court also rejected the pre-arrest bail plea of PTI Peshawar city president Irfan Saleem in a May 9-10 riot case as neither the petitioner nor his counsel attended the hearing.

A few days ago, he was given the interim pre-arrest bail by the court, which fixed his petition for bail confirmation for Saturday.

Like other party leaders, Irfan Saleem also faces multiple charges in several cases registered by the local police and anti-corruption establishment.

Recently, over a petition filed by him, the Peshawar High Court directed the provincial government to produce the details of all cases registered against him.

However, the government has yet to comply with the court orders.In the petition, he requested the high court to issue directives to the government for the provision of the details of the cases registered against him to enable him to approach the relevant court for relief.

Moreover, another anti-terrorism court extended an interim pre-arrest bail granted to former Peshawar district nazim and PTI leader Arbab Mohammad Asim until July 24.

His petition wasn`t taken up due to the transfer of the judge.

Besides other cases, petitioner Arbab Asim was also named in the FIR registered at the East Cant police station on May 10 over violent protests and damage to public property.

The PTI leaders were accused of setting fire to and looting the building of Radio Pakistan Peshawar and torching the nearby Chaghi Monument.