The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has strongly condemned the police raid at the residence of party chairman Imran Khan in Lahore. According to them, the search operation was an act of state terrorism as part of a “London Plan” to eliminate Khan.
According to reports, the operation was launched as Khan was leaving his home to go before a judge in Islamabad with the intention of having him arrested.
In a press conference, Fawad Chaudhry, a leader of the PTI, accused Maryam Nawaz, the chief organiser of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, of setting the government’s agenda.
He claimed that the operation had violated court orders and had sparked anarchy throughout the nation. He also claimed that PTI employees were pressuring the leadership to declare nationwide protests.
To prepare for the “final showdown,” Chaudhry urged party members, they should hold off on starting the protests until Khan gave the go-ahead. After hearing about the “cowardly attack,” he added that party leaders were travelling to Islamabad with Mr. Khan.
He further asserted that the government’s goal was to detain the PTI chairman even though the entire country was experiencing unheard-of inflation.
In addition, Chaudhry claimed that the police disobeyed the Lahore High Court’s directives by failing to notify Imran Kishwar, the court’s designated focal point, prior to the raid. He claimed that police officers scaled walls and subjected residents to torture while inside the home, razing the gates of the residence with excavators.
The Punjab police chief was given permission by the Lahore High Court on Friday to search Khan’s home as part of an investigation into attacks on police teams. The attacks happened as the teams were carrying out arrest warrants for the PTI leader issued by an Islamabad court.
Dr. Uzma Khanum, the sister of Khan, alleged that the police carried out the search without a search warrant. She claimed that the police harassed women, tortured housekeepers, and kidnapped her husband and a few housekeepers.
PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi also visited Mr. Khan’s residence after the raid and called the action “brutality and violence”. He lambasted PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz and Rana Sanaullah and claimed that the police had used rubber bullets and shelling on workers and employees.
The PTI leadership has demanded nationwide demonstrations in opposition to what they refer to as the “state terrorism” and “violence” committed by the police.
