Bani Gala ‘under siege’ after crackdown on PTI

Lal Haveli of Sheikh Rashid also sealed; Imran calls nationwide protests today

ISLAMABAD: Law enforcers laid siege to the Bani Gala residence of Imran Khan late Thursday night hours after a crackdown was launched against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters. The opposition party responded by announcing nationwide protests against what it called ‘terrorism’ of the government.

Police detained dozens of PTI workers — including women — for violating Section 144 which the administration had imposed in the morning. Television footage showed police scuffling with Imran’s supporters before bundling them into prison vans and whisking them away.



Not only that, Lal Haveli, the residence of Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, was also reportedly sealed to stop the most vocal critic of the government from staging a rally on Friday where Imran is also scheduled to show up.

PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi told The Express Tribune that large contingents of police and Frontier Constabulary have ‘encircled’ Imran’s residence in Bani Gala, on the edge of Islamabad.

“The whole area is under surveillance of law enforcement agencies, while deployment of law enforcers is building up in front of the residence of Chairman Imran Khan,” said Qureshi, who is present in Bani Gala along with top leaders of PTI, including Jahangir Tareen, Asad Umar. “Nobody is allowed in or out.”

Government officials, however, said police and Frontier Constabulary personnel have been deployed at Bani Gala for Imran’s security. “If the PTI leaders respect the law, the law enforcers will provide them security - but if they break the law, they will be arrested,” PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry was quoted as saying by a local TV channel.

Both Imran and Sheikh Rasheed are considering the possibility of holding their scheduled protest on Murree Road.

The crackdown first began in the federal capital, where the police and paramilitary Frontier Constabulary arrested dozens of the PTI workers, including women, gathered for a youth convention at a local hotel.



The youth convention was supposed to be held inside Taj Marquee at Sector E-11. However, the premises were sealed by the city administration earlier in the day, forcing the participants to gather outside of it.

Later, the police accompanied by FC personnel stormed the gathering and arrested workers in the presence of PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Umar.

Earlier in the day, the government imposed Section 144 in the federal capital and neighbouring Rawalpindi for two months. According to the interior ministry, the action against the youth convention – which it claimed was not a crackdown –was carried out to implement Section 144. It claimed that the PTI had not obtained prior permission from the administration to hold the gathering.

These arrests prompted the PTI chief Imran Khan to give a call for a countrywide protest today (Friday).

“We will observe countrywide protest today (Friday) against government’s shameless and brutal torture and arrest of party activists especially women,” Imran Khan announced while addressing a hurriedly called press conference at his residence in Bani Gala.

He also announced he would attend a rally at Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi on Friday (today) organised by the AML chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, despite the enforcement of Section 144 in the garrison city, challenging the government to arrest him as he would defy section 144 and attend the rally.

Imran said the unlawful arrests and torture had further charged the PTI workers, adding that the November 2 protest in the capital would be held as per schedule, come what may.



“Today’s brutal action has stamped the fact that Sharif brothers would go to any extent to save their corrupt regime,” he said. “Now it has become mandatory for every Pakistani to come out and join me in saving the country’s future.”

Meanwhile, the Punjab and federal police on Thursday evening started arresting the middle-tier leadership of the party in different cities of Punjab and Islamabad.

Rawalpindi police arrested two brothers of the PTI MPA Ijaz Khan Jazi during a raid at his house. Jazi escaped arrest as he was not present in his house. According to sources, some 150 activists of the PTI and the AML were arrested from Rawalpindi till filing of the report.

In Islamabad, the police also picked up senior PTI leader Nawabzada Salahuddin, who was later shifted to Kohsar police station. The PTI later claimed that police had arrested some 236 men and 42 women from Islamabad. These people were under detention at two different police stations until the filing of this report.

Talking to The Express Tribune PTI leader Faisal Chaudhry alleged that police raided his house in Sector F-7. However, he evaded arrest. Similarly, a PTI office in Jehlum – run by Fawad Chaudhry – was also raided.



PTI claimed that the police also raided office of party leader Mehmoodul Rasheed and the house of Ijaz Chaudhry in Lahore.  Later, dozens of PTI workers and supporters gathered outside Lahore Press Club and held a protest against the raid. They blocked road for every kind of traffic by burning tyres and raised slogans against the PML-N government .

PTI to challenge IHC order

PTI leader Naeem Bokhari on Thursday said the party was considering challenging the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to bar them from locking down Islamabad.

“It’s not a judgment but an order that too passed without hearing PTI’s point of view,” Bokhari said, adding the party’s legal team was considering if the order was passed by the IHC without any lawful authority. “Does the court have any jurisdiction to pass that order?” Bokhari questioned. In our opinion, Bokhari said, the order falls under palpable bias and there is set precedents in this regard.

UN asks workers to keep contingency ration

As a contingency plan in the wake of PTI’s protests and threats to lock-down Islamabad, the United Nations’ affiliated organisations have asked their employees to have at least one week’s ration at their residences.

“While it is too early to mention the mitigating measures, as a preparatory measure, in the event of such lockdowns, it is in the interest of all UN personnel to ensure at least a week’s provision of food, water, etc, available at our residences,” says an internal memo circulated in all allied departments of UN, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2016.