Hundreds Aim For Jail
Pakistani supporters of Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will take to the streets of the provincial capital Punjab today (Wednesday) to open the ‘Bharo Tehreek Prison’ where ‘over 200 supporters’ are being detained by the court.
In preparation for the action, PTI’s social media was busy throughout the day with party staffers and leaders exchanging messages motivating supporters to be part of the “staged” judicial arrest process hundreds aim for jail. “Fill the prisons and destroy the idols of fear,” PTI leader Imran Khan said in a video message on Twitter. In an apparent attempt to rally support for the movement, the former ruling party has also held demonstrations in many cities, including Faisalabad, Kasur, and Sheikhupura, under various guises.
In Lahore, PTI Central Province Chairperson Yasmin Rashid chaired a meeting to take stock of the situation as the arrest process begins today. However, PTI leaders will not give up freedom on day one.
Section 144 imposed in Lahore; Sana says govt will arrest miscreants, not ‘women and poor workers’
According to ARY News, the opening day of the movement was scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. with a meeting honoring party members. After the meeting, party supporters were to march down Hundreds aim for jail Road to The Mall – where Section 144 applies – to submit to arrest. If the government refuses to arrest PTI activists, the demonstration will turn into a sit-in at Charing Cross ahead of the Punjab Assembly.
After Lahore, judicial arrests will begin on February 23 in Peshawar. Rawalpindi on February 24, Multan on February 25, Gujranwala on February 26, Sargodha on February 27, and Sahiwal on February 28. Faisalabad will join the movement on the first day of March.
Senator Ejaz Chaudhary, head of Bharo Tehreek Prison, seemed confident in the movement’s success and said the party was looking for 200 volunteers for the first day of the race, but more than 2,000 had signed up for the race. He said party leaders contesting the upcoming by-election on the PTI platform would not be part of the campaign.
Speaking to the media, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhary said the party and its top leadership were ready for a court arrest. “Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar insisted that they allow themselves to be arrested on the first day of the movement,” he said, adding that for now Hundreds aim for jail, the leadership believes the party should proceed with the strategy.
Mr. Chaudhary said the PTI’s action would test the capacity of prisons and police stations as hundreds of workers volunteered to be called by the party leader.
Chaudhary called it a “unique event” in Pakistan’s history and said no political party had ever “dared” to create a movement in which its employees and leaders volunteered for the arrests. The PTI leader said the movement opposed human rights abuses, rising inflation, and a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Asad Umar, the leader of the central party, said in a brief interview shared by PTI on Twitter that the goal of the movement is to win freedom for the nation hundreds aim for jail. PTI supporters would give up their “individual freedom” for the country’s 220 million people.
“In my opinion, the election date would have been announced before it came to that,” he added. However, Mr. Umar did not mention whether he will go to prison today.
‘Miscreants’ to be arrested
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the PTI’s arrest campaign Hundreds aim for jail to create political instability and law and order in the country.
At the meeting, it was decided to arrest the bad guys and establish law and order in the country at all costs.
“The arrest of women and the working poor would be avoided”, the participants agreed. The minister said a register of criminals would be kept, and their crimes would be mentioned in their character certificates issued by the police Hundreds aim for jail.
A day earlier, the Punjab government imposed Section 144 on The Mall, Gulberg Main Boulevard, and outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat and adjacent streets to ban all types of gatherings, occupations, and processions.