Crackdown irks opposition

Urges government to release PTI workers


Our Correspondents October 27, 2016
JI Cheif, Siraj-ul-Haq addresses to media person regarding terrirosts massacre attack on Police Training College, held in Quetta. PHOTO: PPI

KARACHI/QUETTA/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties criticised the PML-N government’s heavy-handedness after it launched a crackdown on supporters of PTI on Thursday.

PPP condemned the action against PTI workers in Islamabad and urged PML-N to avoid using state power, which would have negative consequences for the democratic government.

Addressing a press conference at PPP Media Cell, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Senator Saeed Ghani also asked government to give up ‘Gullu Butt’ politics based on violence and let political workers take part in their party events.

“Government’s job is to facilitate people and their parties rather than torturing women and children,” Kaira said, adding that the situation will spiral out of control if the government did not reconsider its decision. “All things will come on track if government fulfills joint opposition demand with regard to Panama Papers inquiry against the prime minister and his family,” he added.



Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq also strongly condemned the arrests of PTI workers and said it proved that democracy in Pakistan existed in name only. Addressing reporters at the Quetta Press Club, he said rulers should step down if they can’t protect life and property of the masses.

Demanding the immediate release of arrested PTI workers, Siraj urged rulers to see reason and avoid prolonging the crisis and further complicating the situation. He also criticised the rulers over the carnage in Quetta, saying they had left the masses at the mercy of terrorists while living in bungalows secured by barbed wire and police check posts.

PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur too slammed the arrests at a joint news conference in Lahore with PTI’s Chaudhry Sarwar.

“It appears the rulers have lost their senses. They appear bent upon making the Islamabad protest successful before November 2,” Gandapur said. He demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif surrender himself for accountability and release the judicial commission’s report on the Model Town incident.

Chaudhry Sarwar, meanwhile, called on the judiciary to take notice of the unjustified arrests of PTI workers. He said the uniforms of police were already stained with the blood of the innocent and urged them to not obey the ‘illegal orders’ of the rulers.

Meanwhile, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique criticised PTI’s plan for locking down Islamabad on November 2, saying it would damage Pakistan’s interests and undermine the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

At a news conference in Islamabad, he accused PTI chief Imran Khan of trying to weaken democracy and of crossing all moral limits by disrespecting state institutions.

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

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