Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan harshly criticised the “fascist approach” of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government for treating his party’s imprisoned activists and leaders during the “Jail Bharo Tehreek” (court arrest movement) as terrorists.
According to the PTI, the purpose of the movement is to resist the incumbent government’s “attack on constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights” and “economic meltdown.”
On February 22, the court arrest movement was initiated. On the first day of the campaign, the party’s key leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Azam Swati, along with party workers, voluntarily surrendered to the Lahore police; later, others followed suit.
Khan said in the tweet that the leadership and members of his party are demonstrating against fascism, the violation of fundamental rights, and the oppression of the nation.
It is crucial to note that in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a bastion of the PTI, the party’s court arrest movement resulted in no arrests.
While the police prepared for arrests and urged PTI members to turn themselves in to the authorities, none of the members appeared to heed the police’s summons.
Recovery requests filed
Notwithstanding the “voluntary” detention of leaders and workers, multiple petitions for their release were filed with the Lahore High Court (LHC) earlier this week.
At least eight PTI figures, including Umar, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Waleed Iqbal, Senator Swati, Murad Ras, Jaan Madni, Azam Niazi, and Ahsan Dogar, are among those for whom PTI Senator Ijaz Chaudhry has filed recovery petitions.
The leaders are not even provided with food and medicine. The petition further stated that the leaders are being unlawfully detained. False cases might be brought against them to smear and harm them.
Chaudhry stated that there was no justification for their incarceration and urged the court to order the police to present the leaders before the LHC without resorting to illegal measures.
In his petition, Zain Qureshi urged the LHC to order the government to release his father, the vice chairman of the PTI, who is being unlawfully detained.
“Shah Mahmood was taken into custody yesterday and I am not being informed about his whereabouts,” Qureshi added.
The courtroom erupts in laughter.
While Judge Shehram Sarwar Chaudhary heard the petition of Qureshi on Friday, he questioned the petitioner’s attorney regarding the arrests of party members.
The attorney then stated that the party has initiated a “Jail Bharo” effort. The judge questioned why they were messing with the courts. The attorney said, “We are not asking for bail, these are symbolic arrests and we are here to protect the rights of the leaders.”
The courtroom erupted in laughter at the attorney’s response.
The judge then commented, “you were asking yourself to make arrests, now that they are arrested, what’s the emergency?”
Similarly, Zain appeared in court. “I did not get arrested but my father was and I am not allowed to meet him,” Qureshi’s kid explained.
In response, Justice Chaudhary stated, “Go to a place where Section 144 is imposed, you will get arrested and will also be able to meet him.” His statements once again elicited laughs from the audience.
Swati was detained despite being on a “waiting list.”
Azam Khan Swati, a key leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), claimed he was taken into custody when he arrived at the Bahawalpur jail to visit the imprisoned leader Qureshi.
Saturday, following a medical examination by the authorities, he made these remarks to press. Afterwards, he was sent to District Prison Rahim Yar Khan by the authorities.
The 76-year-old leader stated at the event that his name was on the waiting list for the “Jail Bharo Tehreek.” Swati asserted that he was unlawfully detained. The PTI leader disclosed that he would be held in the jail’s death cell.
He believed that the courts would deliver justice and order for the country’s elections.
PTI employees transferred to Adiala Prison
At least 47 PTI leaders and activists from Rawalpindi were sent to Adiala Prison on Saturday.
During the third phase of “Jail Bharo Tehreek” in Rawalpindi, between 80 and 90 party members, including five important leaders, willingly surrendered to the authorities.
According to the PTI’s official Twitter account, Zulfi Bukhari, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Major (retired) Latasub Satti, Fayaz ul Hassan Chohan, Ijaz Khan, and others have been transferred to Adiala Prison.
