Lahore police said Tuesday that he stopped more than 30 PTI activists after they went to the streets to officially begin a national movement for the launch of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail for two years.
Imran, imprisoned since August 5, 2023 in a case related to state gifts, is complying with a sentence in jail in a case of corruption of £ 190 million and also faces pending judgments in alleged cases of terrorism related to the disturbances of May 9, 2023.
Imran had issued a national protest call, with a statement attributed to him saying that “the movement that begins on August 5 will continue until democracy is restored in its true spirit.” According to PTI Asad Qaiser leader, August 5 was the beginning of the protest, but should not be considered a “final call.”
Said said the deputy inspector of Lahore (operations) Faisal Kamran Dawn.com: “More than 30 PTI activists who tried to block roads in different areas of the city were arrested.”
He denied the reports that the police arrested hundreds of activists.
Around 1 PM, the PTI said that one of its leaders, Rehana Dar, had been arrested by the police in Lahore.
“An old man as a renana to give is being dragged by the blatant Punjab policeman, a shameful view,” the PTI said in his official X account.
He shared a video that shows Dar, who played the 2024 general elections in Sialkot against PML-N Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, was dragged into a police truck by personnel with riot team.
The PTI said that Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz and the inspector General of Punjab, Dr. Usman Anwar, “have sunk a new minimum with this act” and “abandoned any feeling of shame and decency.”
Raja Shahbaz Bhatti, president of the Insaf youth wing of the PTI in North Punjab, said in X that he was injured due to the police action and that four others were arrested.
The PTI fine chapter claimed that his Lahore rally was “attacked by the police”, with multiple vehicles that participated in it facing damage. The images shared by him showed the rear window of a destroyed car with a hole.
The president of PTI Baluchistan, Dawood Shah Kakar, said that “several” PTI workers, including five leaders, were arrested after they met in a place in the Kohlu district of Baluchistan for a protest.
Qaiser said yesterday that the raids had begun in Punjab and Kashmir, while the head of media cells PTI Punjab, Shayan Bashir, said that the police carried out about 200 raids and picked up the party workers, which were allegedly released to present catalogs.
Meanwhile, Punjab Minister of Information, Azma Bokhari, mocked the participation of the protest, claiming that the PTI was inflating the size of the crowd by stopping traffic.
Separately, Cashmir PTV news reported.
The opposition leaders stopped while they were heading to the Adiala prison
Before today’s planned protests, the Rawalpindi administration prohibited all assemblies and meetings until August 10 under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, citing an “imminent threat.”
Today, the general secretary of the PTIMan Akram Raja, Tehreek Tahafuz Ayin-I-Pakistan (TTAP) Chief Mahmood Achkazai, Mna Shandana Gulzar and others left for the Adiala prison, where Imran is imprisoned, the game said at 3pm.
“Let’s register our protest under any circumstance, since it is our constitutional right,” said Achakzai in X.
However, the Punjab police arrested them, and the TTAP shared a video of Achakzai’s exchange with the staff. “This route is closed,” said a policeman say.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s prime minister Ali Amin Gandapur also directed a convoy in Peshawar.
According to other videos he published, the party organized demonstrations in several cities throughout the country.
Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, who was recently arrested under the Public Order’s Ordinance (MPO), also directed a demonstration after his last night, the PTI said.
KP protests
The PTI also shared a video of convoys that leave Peshawar, Mansehra and other cities for Swabi.
The Islamabad-Peshawar highway closed at 5 PM on Swabi Interchange and both lines of Peshawar and Islamabad remained closed despite the various attempts made by the highway police. The Police could not persuade PTI workers, because the highway remained closed and travelers were forced to wait on the side of the high -heat road.
The highway opened at 7:30 pm when the meeting dispersed.
The leader of PTI, Asad Qaiser, claimed that he was offered to imran to be able to go home, but rejected such offers and declared that he would not go anywhere, but he would continue the fight for Pakistan from the jail.
He criticized the parties in the government for losing people’s confidence and lashed out for the sugar scandal.
“People will not allow the operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under any circumstance. This is the decision of the people and the general public does not want more operations here,” he said.
He said that his agenda was constitutional supremacy, true authority of Parliament in accordance with the Constitution and democratic principles and norms.
“We have launched a movement today that will focus on the liberation of our leader, Imran Khan, the immediate withdrawal of all false cases against him, the supremacy of Parliament, the defense of the country’s constitution in all the circumstances and civil rights of the persons, the independence of the Judiciary and the people and the religious parties and the religious parties to express their opinions without fear and doubt.”
He announced that the second phase of the PTI efforts would take place on August 14, after which the party planned to go to Sindh. “We will unite the entire country to get rid of this oppressive government,” he concluded.
PTI workers of the Malakand division met in the Lower Dir Chakdara exchange, where their local leaders went to the main demonstration.
The president of the PTI, the lawyer Gohar Khan, directed a demonstration of his native district of Buner.
The Provincial Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Syed Fakhar Jahan, went to a great protest demonstration in Sawari Chowk, Buner. The lawyer Gohar was also present on the occasion.
The provincial minister said on the occasion that Imran was unfairly imprisoned for two years. He said that PTI MNA and MPA were also being intimidated, illegally arrested and people’s rights were being violated, while their families were also being harassed.
Another great concentration was held in the Khairabad area of the Nowshwera district, where MPA and provincial ministers were present.
The manifestation of protest in Khairabad became chaos when the workers and leaders of the party faced each other. The workers demanded that protest leadership travel to Islamabad, saying that they had not come to listen to memory speeches but to participate in practical actions.
They expressed frustration because they were repeatedly asked to meet in the streets only to return without taking more measures.
The leaders of the party and the MPA present on the stage left abruptly without pronouncing their speeches. Consequently, the workers left the pavilion, sat in GT Road and began a protest that blocked the way, refusing to open it despite the persistent requests of the party leaders.
Asad Umar, the imprisonment of Fawad Chaudhry regrets
Separately, former PTI Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry leaders, who had separated from the party following the disturbances of May 9, also regretted the imprisonment of two years of Imran.
Umar, a former finance minister, said in X: “Even two years after the imprisonment of Imran Khan, the Anti-Khan narrative was not sold, and the public believes that Khan is imprisoned for political reasons, not legal.
“Do not waste more time; all national leadership should sit with the PTI and forge a solution according to the Constitution,” he suggested, adding that there was no other way to put an end to the political crisis ongoing.
Chaudhry said that Imran was in jail “just for the good of democracy in Pakistan and the sovereignty of the people.”
