PTI’s local leadership goes into hiding

Crackdown on party workers shows no let-up despite arrest of 310 activists

RAWALPINDI:

With the crackdown on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf showing no sign of let-up following the May 9 riots, a majority of its leaders and workers have gone into hiding to avoid arrests and trials under the dreaded Army Act.

The hide-and-seek play between former MNAs, MPAs, and other officials and activists of the party continued on Wednesday too, a day after the National Security Council hinted at trying ‘instigators’ and ‘participants’ of the violent protests under the Army Act.

According to sources, the Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner has prepared 300 notifications of detentions, in which only the worker's name, father's name, and address are to be typed before issuing.

They said the officials provide a copy of each new detention notification to the PTI legal team on WhatsApp. Lists of former assembly members and local leaders have been provided to the police of 33 police stations of Rawalpindi district, while the special branch and civil secret branch have been issued strict orders to inform the nominated leaders by going around the streets and markets.

For the last 6 days, the police have conducted raids on the homes of the leaders between 10pm and 5am with little success.

The police have only been able to arrest former MPA Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan during these days, while the raids to arrest other members have failed.

In total, the police have arrested 310 workers in Rawalpindi district. The petitions against the detention of 254 workers will be heard on Thursday.

Sources said after six days of failed raids, the police are frustrated.

Meanwhile, PTI sources told The Express Tribune that the police inform the leaders before raids. They said this has emboldened the leaders and no new arrests are expected soon.

According to the sources, all former national and provincial assembly members of PTI have been instructed by the high command to avoid arrests until the announcement of the new budget.

Following the orders, a large number of leaders of PTI have moved from Rawalpindi to remote areas of Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and nearby regions.

The leaders are said to be in touch with the high command through the phone numbers of the anonymous activists.

On the other hand, top police officials, and district administration officers are frustrated by the failure of the raids.

Hearing on the petitions against the detention of all detained PTI workers will start on Thursday and the PTI leadership is hopeful about the release of the arrested workers.

PTI has also established a Free Legal Committee consisting of 20 senior lawyers in Rawalpindi district, who will challenge the detentions by obtaining copies of the detention orders from the deputy commissioner's office.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2023.