LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has claimed that their party workers were being arrested ahead of the Minar-e-Pakistan public gathering.

While talking to the media here on Saturday, the former federal minister pointed out that despite the Lahore High Court’s order of allowing a political gathering, the government has placed containers in different parts of the city to create hurdles for the PTI workers.

He averred that the police were conducting raids and arresting the PTI leaders; so far 1800 PTI workers have been arrested.

However, he urged them not to arm themselves with sticks or other weapons and advised them to refrain from violence.

Qureshi maintained that holding the rally was their constitutional right and was confident a large number of people would come and participate in the political gathering.

Meanwhile, in his tweet, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry slammed a crackdown on their party leaders and workers, saying the action aimed at sabotaging the political gathering of his party at Minar-e-Pakistan tonight.

The former information minister said, “Hundreds of people have been arrested, roads were blocked, houses raided and police entered without warrants only to sabotage today’s public gathering in Lahore. This all was happening in the month of Ramazan.”

He also urged the international community, especially Islamic countries, to condemn abductions and killings of political workers in the holy month of Ramazan. He said that the government should be declared ‘persona non grata’ for its fascist tactics.

The reactions of the PTI leaders come after the authorities blocked various roads, including entry and exit points, in the Punjab capital with an apparent reason to thwart the PTI political gathering.

The district Lahore administration used dozens of shipping containers and trucks to block off major roads.

These measures to prevent the political gathering have caused hurdles for commuters, who were heading to their jobs and other routine activities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023