PTI Remains Firm on Islamabad March Despite Arrest of 1,500 Workers and Crackdown
Despite government obstruction, the arrest of lawmakers and serious allegations of a crackdown, Pakistan’s opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that it will continue its planned protest march towards the capital Islamabad on September 27. The party’s top leaders have made it clear that their movement cannot be suppressed through intimidation.
The resolve was expressed at a joint press conference held on Monday from the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar by the party’s interim chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.
At the press conference, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said, “PTI will exercise its constitutional right to peaceful protest with full force. The government’s tactics of intimidation will not break our morale.” He alleged that the arrests of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sisters, gunfire targeting the vehicle of Provincial Cabinet Minister Shakeel Khan, and the abduction of Labour Minister Fazal Shakur Khan by plainclothes personnel were part of a conspiracy to undermine the movement. He also warned that such repression would further strengthen PTI’s movement.
PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan strongly criticised what he described as the government’s hostile behaviour and said at least 1,500 party leaders and workers had recently been detained. He said five members of the National Assembly (MNAs), a former senator and provincial lawmakers (MPAs) had been unjustly arrested from the National Assembly building and Parliament Lodges areas.
He further said, “Over the past four years, we have approached the high courts 25 times and the Supreme Court 19 times in the hope of receiving justice, but the government has paid no heed to any court order. Even the Supreme Court’s directive concerning Imran Khan’s health has been disregarded.”
On the same day, other opposition parties and the alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aain-e-Pakistan (TTAP) strongly condemned the arrests of elected representatives from the Parliament premises. They demanded the immediate release of the detainees and the removal of container barricades from the capital’s roads to facilitate the movement of ordinary people.
Meanwhile, the current government has strengthened security measures across Islamabad ahead of the possible march. The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has already sent several arrested PTI workers to remand and police custody. However, PTI leaders said the remaining final guidelines regarding the movement will be announced on September 25.
Source: Dawn
