Lahore — Police in Punjab province of Pakistan raided offices and residences of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and arrested a dozen activists as the party announced the resumption of political activities, it said on Monday.
The Punjab police rounded up over a dozen PTI activists for making arrangements for holding workers conventions in Rawalpindi and other districts of the province, senior PTI leader from Punjab Shaukat Basra said.
“The sanctity of the homes of PTI lawmakers has been violated by those who stormed and vandalised them. The fascist regime functionaries justify their action by saying they are doing so on the army’s order,” Basra said.
Basra said over a dozen PTI activists, including Murree District General Secretary Safdar Zaman Satti, were arrested.
“This is a blatant example of political victimisation and injustice. Our only crime is our love for Imran Khan. We strongly condemn the illegal arrest and ransacking of the houses and offices of party activists and leaders,” he said.
Basra and PTI’s Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza shared several videos on social media in which police high-handedness is visible.
Hamza said the Punjab government was only busy running a massive advertising campaign to propagate its fake and fudged figures of growth in the economy.
She said the military-backed “mandate thieves” have unleashed a reign of terror on the masses.
“This fascist regime has stooped too low by picking up a young college girl through male policemen in Punjab for sharing a post against Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on social media,” she said.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqqas Akram said: “The puppet regime has systematically trampled the rule of law, eradicated constitutional supremacy, paralysed the judiciary, ruined the economy, and unleashed a reign of terror to ensure its authoritarian grip on power”.
PTI supremo and former prime minister Imran Khan has been in jail since August 2023. He has announced a countrywide protest movement after Eid in April. — (PTI)
