PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s “Jail Bharo Tehreek (Court Arrest Movement)” ended without any arrests in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, considered the party’s stronghold.
While the police made no arrests and appealed to the PTI workers to surrender themselves before the authorities, apparently none of the members heeded their call.
SP City Abdul Salam Khalid told JEE News that PTI workers had punctured the tires of the van of the prisoners – who were deployed to detain them.
“After sitting in the jail van for a few minutes, the workers got out and nobody surrendered,” said the senior police officer, highlighting that the party members were only sitting in the van for a photo shoot.
Khalid added that the police would take action against PTI workers for violating Section 144 (joining unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
According to Tehreek-e-Insaf’s argument, the movement aims to counter “attacks on constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights” and “economic corruption” by the current government.
PTI Lahore president Sheikh Imtiaz claimed that 47 leaders and activists were arrested on Wednesday, but police officials say the number is closer to 80.
Meanwhile, several petitions have been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the recovery of leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Azam Swati.
Clashes, directions, new policy
At 2 p.m., activists and leaders gathered in Peshawar’s Hashtnagari neighborhood, where PTI-KP president Pervez Khattak told them that they would surrender themselves to the authorities.
On the instructions of Pervez Khattak, the workers started marching and entered the assembly square located in the red zone.
The police told the party workers that they cannot protest in the area as Section 144 is also in force. However, this led to a clash between the two sides which ended in no time.
The activists forced their way through police personnel stationed there and reached a nearby jail – where three police vans were stationed.
Former Legislative Minister Zara, Ravi Kumar, Fazal Elahi, Malik Liaquat, Arbab Waseem and other leaders surrendered voluntarily.
Later they also got down from the van. But former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, who was directed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan to surrender himself, was not arrested.
Former KP governor Farman Shah said “jails are closed” as the government wants to thwart the “Jail Bharo” movement. “We want to surrender ourselves, but the prisons are closed.”
Party leader Atif Khan said that no worker was arrested in today’s protest and a new course of action will be announced soon after the PTI chief’s new policy.
PDM censures PTI
As the movement in Peshawar seemed to yield no results, parties in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – which is in government at the center – came down hard on the PTI.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) provincial spokesperson Akhtar Yar Wali said that PTI’s judicial arrest motion was just a “selfie show”.
“Police kept waiting to arrest Pervaiz Khattak, Mehmood Khan, Asad Qaiser. PTI workers sat in the van of the prisoners and got off after taking a selfie,” Wali said.
PDM provincial media coordinator Abdul Jalil Jan said the PTI’s campaign had “failed”. He said that the leadership encouraging the workers to go to jail is now failing the bail pleas. “Police vehicles kept waiting but the leader and the PTI tiger managed to escape,” he added.
