More than 60 leaders and workers of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have been arrested here in Punjab province in connection with the attacks on military installations in May, police said on Wednesday, an act described as “illegal fascist measures” by the party.
Police action against the PTI leaders and workers has been intensified across the country following the announcement of general elections in Pakistan on February 8, 2024.
These are fresh arrests in addition to those already arrested on May 9 and soon after.
According to the PTI, over 10,000 of its leaders and workers have been in jail since early May in connection with attacks on military and state installations following Khan’s arrest in an alleged corruption case.
“The police arrested 62 PTI workers involved in the May 9 attack on Lahore Corps Commander House and torching of a plaza (allegedly owned by the son of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa) in different parts of the city on Tuesday,” a Lahore police statement said on Wednesday.
It said a crackdown has been launched against those involved in attacks on military installations but evaded arrest.
A heavy contingent of police also raided the residence of PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to arrest his relative and former lawmaker Maj (R) Tahir Sadiq. Elahi is already in jail.
PTI senior leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi said the Punjab police’s brutalities against the PTI leaders and workers are at their peak as they are not sparing even women.
On May 9, following the arrest of Khan by paramilitary Rangers, unrest broke out in Pakistan that saw the torching and vandalising of dozens of military and state buildings, including the Army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the ISI building in Faisalabad.
Police arrested over 10,000 workers of PTI, and over 100 are being tried under the Army Act.
The PTI core committee has also strongly denounced the "state’s coercive tactics, reprisal actions” against the PTI workers and leaders even after the announcement of the polls date.
“We condemn the illegal fascist measures of the state against peaceful political activities before the elections. The nation will not accept rigged polls held in such an uneven electoral field and with state interference,” it said and added that after fixing the date of the poll, the reprehensible attempts to force the PTI out of the electoral arena and deprive it of a level playing field have become more prominent before the world.
The PTI core committee asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to avoid playing the role of a vacillator in poll rigging (and) rather it should ensure a level playing field for all political parties to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
It also paid glowing tribute to PTI chairman Imran Khan for facing the “unjustifiable” incarceration with steadfastness, courage and perseverance.
"The PTI will take part in the elections and Imran Khan will lead the party’s election campaign across the country,” it said and added Khan has been in jail for over 100 days without any legal justification and was being merely subjected to political revenge.
Khan has been lodged at Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi in the cipher case in which he is accused of leaking state secrets.
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