A man on Monday has been arrested with a pistol at the main gate of the tightly-guarded Pakistani parliament just as PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari arrived at the building ahead of the maiden session of the new National Assembly. The man who is not yet identified, was overpowered by Zardari’s private security guards & handed over to police.

Police is investigating how the man had managed to enter the parliament complex with a weapon despite the unprecedented security arrangements put in place for the session during which parliamentarians will be administered the oath by outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

Zardari became co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party after his wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by a suicide attacker in a pre-poll party rally in December last year.
Security agencies & police had put in place stringent security arrangements at the heavily barricaded parliament building and surrounding areas.