PTI claims party's top brass being moved to 'undisclosed' location

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday claimed that the party’s top brass is being transported to an undisclosed location from Kot Lakhpat jail a day after PTI leaders and activists started voluntarily presenting themselves for arrest in Lahore under the party’s “Jail Bharo Tehreek”.

A video posted on PTI’s official Twitter account showed a car following a prison van that was allegedly carrying the party’s Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, General-Secretary Asad Umar and senior leaders Azam Swati and Azam Niazi.

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“PTI workers who voluntarily presented themselves for arrest yesterday in Lahore are being transported from Kot Lakhpat jail by the police to an undisclosed location,” claimed the former ruling party.

It added that they had crossed Lahore’s Thoker Niaz Baig and were driving on Multan Road.

On Day 2 of the movement, former speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser said that the fundamental aim of the “Jail Bharo Tehreek” is that “we want to run the country according to the Constitution”.

“We want to rule the country according to the Constitution. The country can only be stable when it is governed according to the Constitution and law,” he said.

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While lauding the Supreme Court’s suo motu notice of the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the former NA speaker added that he hopes the apex court will play its fundamental role.

He also said that the party will protest whenever anyone tries to break the law or the Constitution.

Meanwhile, during a press conference, PTI leader Pervez Khattak announced that the party’s K-P leadership will present themselves for arrest today.

The former defence minister added that the drive will then be carried out division-wise.

He also said that the current government came into power because they wanted to bring inflation in the country, adding the party’s only demand is to conduct fair and transparent elections.

The PTI Central Media Cell claimed that those who were courted arrest in Lahore included Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Azam Swati, Muhammad Madni, Murad Rass, Ihsan Dogar, Siddique Khan, Azam Niazi, Abdul Wakeel, Shadi Khan, Gulfarm Virk, Muhammad Rehman, Hamed Ullah Khan, Mian Shahzad, Noran Sohail, Rana Manan, Chaudhry Zahid, Malik Sajid Prince, M Ahmad Bhatti, Shahzad Khokhar and Azhar Bhatti among other party’s central and provincial leaders as well as activists.

Overcrowded prisons

Both the prisons in the provincial capital are overcrowded, hosting at least 8,000 inmates while having a capacity of only 4,000.

Similarly, other jails in Punjab are also overcrowded as well.

All the prisons in the province have a total capacity of 35,000 prisoners. However, they have been accommodating at least 50,000 inmates.

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If the government decided to detain the PTI activists -- that too in bulk -- it would create a challenge in managing space in jails.

To deal with this problem, the authorities are looking for prisons, where the population of inmates was less.

Two jails -- Dera Ghazi Khan and Mianwali -- have been identified so far.

According to an official, if the number of PTI activists superseded beyond their limit in the jails of Lahore, they would be shifted to other districts including Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan.