ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has postponed its nationwide protests on Friday on the instructions of the ex-premier, party members said on Thursday, vowing to hold a “grand rally” in Lahore on September 22.
The PTI last week held a rally in Islamabad to demand the release of Khan, who has been in prison since August last year on a slew of charges. Nearly a dozen PTI lawmakers were arrested this week for violating the recently passed Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024, which allows authorities to set time limits and designate special areas for public gatherings.
The Islamabad administration had allowed the PTI to hold Sunday’s rally from 4pm till 7pm, but the gathering went on until around 11pm. Police said PTI lawmakers were detained over violations of the new law. On Tuesday, the National Assembly speaker ordered an inquiry into the arrests, citing that under Pakistani law, legislators cannot be detained from within the precincts of parliament without the speaker’s permission.
Speaking at a presser on Thursday, PTI member Salman Akram Raja said the party had decided to postpone Friday’s protest to give some more time to the government, while the rally in Lahore would “take place at any cost.”
“Therefore, we appeal to the public to be mindful of these updates, act courageous because fear doesn’t have a meaning anymore in this country,” Raja said. “We are not fearful and will not stop till we reach our destination.”
Prior to the Lahore rally, Raja said, the PTI would hold a public gathering in the Karak district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province next week.
Sunday’s PTI rally was mostly peaceful, but there were clashes between police and some PTI supporters en route to the rally venue, in which one police officer was injured.
The PTI says it has faced an over a year-long crackdown since protesters allegedly linked to the party attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023 after Khan’s brief arrest that day in a land graft case.
Hundreds of PTI followers and leaders were arrested following the riots and many remain behind bars as they await trial. The military, which says Khan and his party were behind the attacks, has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence.
Khan, who is in jail since last August, was ousted from the PM’s office in 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which denies being involved in politics.
Since his removal, Khan and his party have waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military and now the PTI is aiming to mobilize the public through rallies to call for their leader’s release from jail in “politically motivated” cases.
