Workers and lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have claimed that their residences are being raided by the Lahore Police in order to stop the party from staging a sit-in in the federal capital on November 2.
Several PTI lawmakers and workers told Pakistan Today that the officials of Lahore Police were manhandling their families and pressurising them to disclose their locations as many PTI workers had dislocated themselves in a bid to avoid their arrests.
The Lahore Police had started raids in the aftermath of the crackdown launched by the Islamabad Police against PTI workers, they claimed.
“My house was raided by the goons of Lahore Police in the evening and some police officials manhandled my family members during my absence,” Asif Sohail Khokhar, the chairman of Union Council (UC-246), told this scribe.
He added that the party workers had clear instructions from the leadership to dislocate themselves to avoid arrests. “We’ll reach Islamabad at any cost and this movement will prove to be a last nail in the coffin of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” Khokhar said, who was elected as UC chairman from Youhanabad – the largest Christian locality of Pakistan in the local government elections on the ticket of PTI.
Several PTI workers were arrested in the federal capital on Thursday when an official function of PTI youth wing was in progress and the government claimed that the PTI had not got any permission from the district administration to hold the function.
A female lawmaker from Punjab Sadia Sohail Rana told Pakistan Today that her residence was also raided by the police. “I can’t disclose my location right now because of the threat of being arrested,” she said, while adding that she could not afford arrest at this moment because she had to reach Islamabad on November 2 for the sit-in.
The PTI has started an accountability movement in the aftermath of Panama Papers demanding the resignation of the prime minister. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has led large public gatherings in different cities to garner massive public support since the issue of Panama Papers surfaced a few months ago.
“We are planning to stage a protest in Lahore on Friday (today) against the arrest of our workers,” Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said, while taking to Pakistan Today.
He said that his office located in Muslim Town was also raided by the police which he added should not have happened for him being the leader of the opposition.
However, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Dr Haider Ashraf said that not a single residence of any party worker was raided by the police. “We do not have any plans of arrests in the future as well,” he added.