Lahore is preparing for a rally called by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and local authorities have blocked access to the rally’s location, Minar-e-Pakistan, by setting up containers.
Other areas of the city, like GT Road, Cup Store, and Du Maurya Bridge, have also implemented comparable measures. These barriers were erected by the administration and police to keep PTI supporters from other Punjabi towns and cities from attending the rally.
The PTI leadership claims that for five days straight, the police have been searching the homes of party workers and leaders and detaining them. The PTI reports that the rally will still take place in spite of these actions.
33 activists have been detained by the police and later released by the courts as part of a crackdown the police have been carrying out on PTI employees and leadership cadre.
In an attempt to detain PTI central leaders Aamir Kayani, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Raja Basharat, Mian Imran Hayat, Raja Usman, and others in Rawalpindi, the police have been conducting night raids.
To avoid capture, PTI leaders have retreated into hiding. Police detained Salman Ahmed, a former musician and PTI party leader, as part of the ongoing crackdown.
The PTI established a venue committee in advance of the rally, with Shabbir Siyal serving as coordinator, Fawad Rasool Buhlar and Wing Commander Khawaja Kamran serving as deputy coordinators, and ten party members serving as members.
The PTI leadership has vowed to hold the rally today despite the police raids.
The “arrest and abduction” of about 750 leaders and employees, including Azhar Mashwani and Shahid Hussain, was criticised by Fawad Chaudhry, a senior PTI leader.
Prior to the rally, the Punjab police continued to conduct raids in various parts of the province to apprehend PTI officials and workers.
Malik Mubasher Lal, the PTI candidate for PP-145, was not home when police conducted a raid there in the Samnabad neighbourhood.
Lal claimed that the police broke down his home’s walls and took valuables in the name of an arrest. “The future of this nation lies with Imran Khan. We will stand by him with all of our might “Lal swore.
Both PTI leaders Hammad Khan Niazi and Bajash Khan Niazi were absent from their Manawan home when a police raid took place there. They vowed to show up at the rally and declared that they would not be intimidated by the police.
Till our last breath, we will support PTI Chairman Imran Khan, said Hammad. Even though Lal’s family members and kids have also been detained by the police, he still intends to go to the rally with them.
