PTI leaders arrested following massive protest for Imran Khan's release

A convoy led by Khyber district president MPA Vidyidk Abdul Ghani Afridi headed towards Islamabad for the rally demanding Khan's release. Khan has been in jail for over a year now, though courts have suspended or quashed all his previous convictions. Photo: PTI/X

By Abdoul Rahman

Pakistani police announced on Monday, September 9, that they had arrested Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leaders Gohar Khan, Shoaib Shaheen and Sher Afzal Marwat. Gohar Khan, the PTI chairman and a member of the Pakistan National Assembly, was arrested as he was leaving a session of the National Assembly.

The arrests come a day after the PTI held a massive rally in the capital Islamabad on Sunday, September 8, demanding the immediate release of its leader and former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated for over a year now.

The three men were arrested for violating the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, signed into law by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday. The law aims to regulate public gatherings in the capital. The PTI alleged that the rush to pass the law was aimed at preventing the rally from taking place.

The Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024 was passed by both houses of Parliament in the first week of September at record speed, raising concerns that it bypassed the fundamental need to debate its merits. It was first introduced in the Pakistani Senate on September 2 and passed within two days. It was rushed through the lower house or National Assembly within hours on September 6.

Under the new law, anyone found guilty of illegal assembly in the capital faces up to three years in prison and an unspecified amount in fines.

The law requires one week's notice for any public gathering anywhere in the city, and allows authorities to designate any area within the city as a red or high-security zone, banning any type of gathering there.

Protesters defy repression

Despite the new legal rules, protesters defied Pakistani security forces trying to block them from entering the capital on Sunday and gathered in large numbers from different parts of the country. Security forces had blocked all the main entry points into the city, but protesters were able to march towards the capital by pushing back the barriers.

Protesters also clashed with security forces in some areas and, according to local reports, several people, including members of the security forces, were injured in the clashes.

The PTI was allowed to hold the rally in the suburbs of Islamabad only after judicial intervention.

Khan thanked his supporters for coming out in large numbers despite the obstacles created by the state, saying they all broke the shackles of fear to stand up and fight for Haqeeqi Azadi. [real freedom].

Speakers at the rally demanded Khan's immediate release and said their party would not tolerate his proposed military trial. PTI leader and Chief Minister of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province Ali Amin Gandapur said the PTI would ensure Khan's release if he was not released within two weeks.

Last week, Pakistan's military spokesman suggested that Khan could be tried under the Army Act in a military trial in connection with court martial proceedings against former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, retired General Faiz Hameed. These claims were reiterated by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaza Asif on Saturday.

Khan was removed from power in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. He was later charged in over a hundred cases ranging from violating Pakistan's Official Secrets Act to corruption and arrested on May 9, 2023.

When news of his arrest broke, his supporters took to the streets of several Pakistani cities in mass protests and stormed several public institutions. More than a hundred people were arrested and many were tried for these acts of destruction of property. Khan himself was also prosecuted for other acts related to the protests. A few days later, Khan was released and then arrested again in August.

Khan was later convicted and sentenced to various prison terms in at least three cases: the Toshakhana case, the Cypher case and the Iddat case. His supporters maintain that Khan's convictions were politically motivated.

Several of his convictions have been suspended or overturned by the country's highest courts since then. However, Khan remains in prison on other charges.

Political persecution

In June, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Khan's detention was unlawful, saying it appeared to be part of a plot to prevent him from participating in February elections and keep him out of the country's politics.

She said the appropriate solution would be to release Mr Khan immediately and suggested that he be given an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law, Al-Jazeera reported.

Sunday's protests were the first major show of force by the PTI since the last general elections in February this year. Independents affiliated with the PTI won the largest number of seats in parliament but decided to sit in opposition.

The results came as a surprise to many, given allegations of widespread manipulation of results against the PTI, with Khan remaining in jail without the right to contest and the PTI not even being given its election symbol by the country's election commission.

The coalition government, led by Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), later announced plans to ban the PTI altogether. Sharif's government's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, told reporters in July that the PTI was difficult to work with, accusing it of leaking state secrets in public and instigating violent protests.

This article was first published on Peoples Dispatch

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