Crackdown against PTI intensifies as 37 workers arrested in Lahore
Lahore police have detained 37 active workers and four local leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under the Maintenance of Public Order law, as a possible party march towards Islamabad raises concerns over the law and order situation.
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, Lahore police said the 32 workers had been detained under the 3 MPO, while four other leaders were arrested in connection with cases related to the May 9 unrest.
Police sources said further arrests were being made from lists prepared to help maintain law and order. The action comes ahead of the party's planned protest call for September 27.
The latest arrests add to the number of PTI supporters already in detention. Twenty-nine people, including sisters of PTI founder Imran Khan, had already been placed under 30-day detention orders.
On September 21, 25 News HD reported that two more of Mr Khan's sisters, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, had been arrested in Lahore, a day after their sister Aleema Khan was detained by law enforcement authorities.
The two women were ordered to remain in detention for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law. The detention orders were issued by the Lahore deputy commissioner on the recommendation of the police, according to the television channel.
Former premier Imran Khan's sisters Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were taken to Kot Lakhpat Jail late at night, the report said.
Police said the latest action was part of measures to maintain public order as authorities prepare for the possibility of a PTI march towards Islamabad.
AFP adds: Authorities in federal capital blocked main access routes to the city with double-stacked shipping containers Thursday ahead of a weekend demonstration by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
Police deployed 22,000 security personnel to lock down Islamabad, officials told AFP, barring entry and exit to neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan's party rules.
Key highways, entry points, and major intersections were obstructed, completely severing transport links and bringing movement to a virtual standstill.
Cars could be seen stuck in traffic jams, with motorbike riders squeezing in and out of gaps between containers.
The government's pre-emptive crackdown ahead of Sunday's planned protest intensified earlier this week with the detention of Khan's sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, and Noreen Niazi under Punjab's Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance.
The preventive 30-day detention orders issued by authorities accused them of "mobilising supporters via social media and incitement against state institutions", according to an order seen by AFP journalists.
Dozens of lawmakers, regional leaders, and opposition activists affiliated with Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), were also rounded up across multiple districts in Punjab province and the capital, Islamabad.
PTI's information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said "almost 1,500" party activists had been detained.
The 73-year-old former cricket star has been behind bars since August 2023 and faces scores of charges ranging from corruption to treason and inciting violence following widespread anti-establishment riots in May 2023.
Khan and his legal team reject the allegations, branding them as politically motivated cases aimed at neutralising his popularity.
He received medical treatment this year, with his family and lawyer saying that he had lost most of the vision in his right eye.
The capital march represents PTI's first major street push in months to press for Khan's release.
Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, denied the city was being put under lockdown. "They do not have to come to Islamabad," Tarar told a press conference in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "No one will be allowed to shut down the city."
A parallel demonstration originally planned by the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami and farmers' union leaders over soaring inflation and petroleum levies was suspended following a call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's administration, leaving Khan's party to march alone.
Reporter: Abid Chaudhry