Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan's party announces countrywide protest for release of all arrested leaders

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan authorities on Friday braced for a possible showdown with supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf after the party announced a countrywide protest for the release of all arrested party leaders.

Apart from the PTI, the rightwing Jamaat-e-Islami also announced a demonstration in Islamabad against the rising high cost of electricity and other commodities.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party will hold nationwide protests for the release of 71-year-old founder Khan and other arrested party leaders and workers.

Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been kept in jail in various cases.

Though the former-cricketer-turned-politician had secured bail or his conviction was set aside, he has not been released.

According to the PTI, it will hold a protest in front of the National Press Club in the capital, while the Jamaat-e-Islami plans to stage a sit-in at the famous F-Chowk facing the parliament building.

Meanwhile, police in Islamabad imposed section 144, banning all kinds of gatherings, including protests in the federal capital, and sealing the Red Zone for all entries. The zone houses key government offices and embassies.

Police also partially closed the Islamabad Highway at the Faizabad Interchange, which sits at the main entry point from Rawalpindi to Islamabad.

Separately, the Punjab Home Department imposed section 144 in the province to ban all protests and gatherings.

The PTI has claimed its party leaders are being arrested ahead of nationwide protests, saying that the Punjab Police raided PTI leader Raja Basharat's house in Rawalpindi. It also noted that more than a dozen people, including lawmaker Javed Iqbal, have been arrested in the Rahim Yar Khan city.

The party says the police in Lahore raided the house and camp of PTI leader Mehr Naeemullah and arrested five of his friends, but Naeemullah managed to escape from there.

So far, the authorities have thwarted the efforts of the PTI to hold big rallies. The call for Friday's protest comes after the party was reinvigorated by the Supreme Court judgment of July 12, which not only endorsed its status as a political party but also awarded it reserved seats.

Strengthened by the verdict, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan asked his workers to prepare for elections.

“New election will be held after November as the current government has failed,” he said.

The Supreme Court on July 12 declared that the PTI was a political party and eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies. The ruling meant that independent members of the parliament who won elections with the support of PTI could join it.