Arrests, abductions of PTI candidates amid poll preps
Supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan hold a giant cricket bat with the colours and initials of the party in Multan on July 20, 2018. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Arrests and abductions of candidates affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with their proposers and supporters, persist unabated on Wednesday throughout the country during the ongoing scrutiny phase of the general elections.
Despite explicit directives issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the courts, there appears to be no alleviation for candidates associated with one of the nation's major political parties.
As per official social media handles and the Central Media Department (CMD) of the party, law enforcement agencies arrested proposers and supporters of the former PTI MPA Zaheer Abbas Khokhar from Lahore.
They were apprehended outside the Returning Officer’s (RO) Office as they were heading to present themselves for the scrutiny of their candidate’s nomination papers.
Likewise, the police forcibly took an elderly individual who was to act as a proposer for the PTI candidate from Rahim Yar Khan. Subsequently, the party's legal representatives intervened and managed to secure his release from unjust police custody.
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The party claimed that proposers and supporters of its candidate for NA-125 Lahore, NA-127 Lahore and NA-164 Lahore had also been arrested by law enforcement agencies.
A party spokesperson highlighted that even the law enforcement agencies did not acknowledge the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) protective bail orders arresting the NA-164 proposer and supporter of the NA-164 candidate.
In another display of law enforcement agencies' aggressive tactics, unidentified individuals set fire to the college van belonging to PTI Kasur District President Advocate Muhammad Saleem Mehr.
Additionally, there were reports of gunfire aimed at his petrol station during the night.
A party representative emphasized that Advocate Naeem Shah, a former president of the tax bar, serves as the legal counsel for the PTI candidate, Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan, in NA-118.
He disclosed that Advocate Naeem Shah was present in the RO office when a police contingent raided the premises to abduct the PTI candidate’s lawyer and his associates.