Pakistan People's Party (Human Rights wing) Punjab President Salim-ur-Rehman Mayo said that despite tall claims made by the Punjab government to release all political detenus immediately, 56 opposition parties' activists, held in the crackdown against opposition parties across the province, are still in various jails.
In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, he said the opposition parties had filed six petitions in the Lahore High Court against these arrests, which were disposed of after the home secretary told the court that all arrested political activists had been released.
However, officials told Business Recorder that they had not received any instruction for the release of these activists. They said that 56 arrested political activists were still in central jails of Lahore, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Mianwali, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur; and district jails of Jhelum, Jhang, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzaffargarh.
They said that these people were activists of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI).
According to an official list issued a few days ago, the number of held opposition activists was 221. On June 14, an updated list quoted this number down to 213 and on June 16, the figure was 123. These people were held in 15 jails of Punjab for terms of 30 to 90 days.
The issue has been discussed in the ongoing session of the Punjab Assembly. However, the government, including Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, denied any crackdown on opposition parties.