Fearing torture Imran Khan's party files plea, seeks release of leaders

Fearing that the notorious intelligence agencies may torture senior Pakistan TehreekeInsaf politicians at undisclosed locations ousted premier Imran Khans party on Thursday filed a petition in a court seeking the release of the leaders who offered their arrests under the mass court arrest movement a day earlierThe interim Punjab government on Thursday confirmed that police had arrested 81 PTI activists including former federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi Asad Umar and Hammad Azhar Senators Azam Swati and Waleed Iqbal grandson of poet of Allama Iqbal and former Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema Khans party however insists that around 250 party workers have been detained by police in LahoreInitially all the arrested PTI supporters were shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore but later its leaders were shifted to an undisclosed locationSince neither the government nor the Punjab police confirmed the location of the detained leaders the party and the families of the arrested leaders on Thursday filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking their safe recoveryreleaseAlso readPentagon releases selfie taken by US U2 pilot showing Chinese spy balloon in airZain Qureshi son of former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said neither his father nor other leaders were presented before any court of law on Thursday nor the Punjab government and police are disclosing which jail they have been taken toThe petitioners said the lives of PTI leaders are at stake at the hands of the government and policeIf the detainees are not released from the illegal and unlawful detention they may suffer an irreparable loss and injury they said and added that the arrested PTI leaders may be booked in false and frivolous cases in order to cause them maximum harmThe PTI leadership is wary of the treatment meted out to the detained leadersEarlier Senator Azam Swati had alleged that some senior ISI officers had inflicted severe torture on him while he was in police custodyThe PTI is fearing a similar situation in the case of these arrested senior leadersA Punjab police officer said that Qureshi has been shifted to Attock Jail while the other senior leaders are kept in different jails in PunjabKhans party on Wednesday began a mass court arrest movement from Lahore over what it called the violation of fundamental rights abuse of the Constitution and the economic meltdownAccording to the party every day a few hundred PTI workers and leaders will present themselves for arrest from different citiesOn Thursday party workers and leaders presented themselves for arrest in Peshawar TehreekeInsaf leaders workers and people left for Peshawar Central Jail in large numbers the party saidThe mass court arrest movement will continue till the date for elections in Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa are not announced a party leader saidThe PTI dissolved its governments in Punjab and KyberPakhtaunkhawa provinces over a month ago Under the Constitution elections must be held within 90 days after the dissolution of an assemblyThe PMLNled nineparty government has said that holding separate elections for the provincial and national assemblies is not possible because of the economic crisis and the law and order situationKhan who was ousted as prime minister in April last year after a noconfidence motion was passed in the National Assembly is seeking fresh general elections in PakistanKhan has said that he has started the Jail Bharo Tehreek court arrest movement for Haqeeqi Azadi for two main reasons One it is a peaceful nonviolent protest against the attack on our constitutionallyguaranteed fundamental rights We are facing sham FIRs amp National Accountability Bureau cases custodial torture attacks on journalists amp socialHe said the drive was against the economic meltdown brought on by a cabal of crooks who have money laundered billions in looted wealth amp gotten the National Reconciliation Ordinance NRO deal for themselves while crushing the people especially the poor and middle class under the burden of spiralling inflation and rising unemploymentKhan urged the people to take to the streets to get true freedomThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever