LAHORE, Jan 5: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Friday issued arrest warrants to more than 100 activists of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party for their alleged involvement in the attack on the ISI building in Punjab province during the anti-government protests.
On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of Khan, the former prime minister and PTI party chief, by paramilitary Rangers from the premises of the Islamabad High Court in connection with an alleged corruption case.
His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.
“The Anti-Terrorism Court issued arrest warrants of over 100 PTI leaders and workers allegedly involved in the attack on Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) offices in Faisalabad city (some 130kms from Lahore) during riots on May 9, 2023,” a court official told PTI here on Friday.
The PTI leaders who are contesting next month’s general elections from the Faisalabad district are also among those whose arrest warrants have been issued, he said.
The wanted men of the PTI have reportedly been hiding since May.
The Pakistan Army is already conducting the trial of 102 suspects involved in the attacks on military installations including the ISI building in Faisalabad during violent protests that erupted on May 9 across the country following the arrest of former prime minister and PTI supremo Khan.
PTI central spokesperson Raoof Hasan said that “every draconian measure” has been employed by the state to have the party decimated and Imran Khan deleted from people’s memory.
“This includes driving Khan out of office using the influence of pelf and power, registering over 180 fake and fraudulent cases against him from corruption to jeopardising national interests, arresting him and convicting him on one count with proceedings moving at an accelerated pace in others, and subjecting him to maltreatment and humiliation.”
Raoof further said such measures also include exerting pressure on the PTI leaders to leave him, incarcerating them for prolonged periods and thwarting their bail by re-arresting them in other cases, abducting and torturing others to change political loyalties, denying it the right to hold political rallies and depriving it of its election symbol.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed deep concern over the deterioration in the state of human rights in the country.
“The blatant manipulation of the electoral landscape has been witnessed in which one political party among others has been singled out for systematic dismemberment. The state’s clampdown on dissent, whether on freedom of opinion, expression or assembly, has further constricted civic spaces in the country at a time when people must be allowed to express their will freely ahead of the national election next month,” the HRCP said.
Currently over 10,000 PTI workers and leaders are languishing in jails in different parts of the country after May 9 events. Imran Khan is also detained at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi since August last in different cases.
The PTI alleges that under the ‘London Plan’ PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif will be made prime minister in the wake of the February 8, 2024 polls with the blessing of the military establishment and Khan and his party will be crushed. (PTI)
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