PESHAWAR: Former Planning Minister and PTI general-secretary Asad Umar on Tuesday asserted that a crackdown on the party’s leadership would not help the PML-N-led coalition government run the country, but would instead bring it to a halt.
“You can use power to bring Pakistan to a halt, not run it,” the PTI leader said while addressing a news conference in Peshawar alongside the party’s vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in the aftermath of police raids on the residences of several key PTI figures.
While strongly condemning the “harassment and arrests” of PTI’s leaders in Punjab, Asad Umar said, “I want to the tell you that what happened last night has just increased the enthusiasm and passion among our workers.”
The PTI leader revealed that the raids were not limited to Lahore, alleging that lawmakers were arrested in Sindh, Islamabad and Rawalpindi as well. “The police even tried to take our MPA Yasmin Rashid, who is recovering from cancer,” he added.
“What was the government trying to do”, Umar asked, cautioning that such incidents would just further push the country into chaos.
Taking over the presser, Qureshi urged PTI leaders and supporters in Punjab to avoid arrests and “go underground” or move to the houses of their relatives if they had to. “Use public transport or any other means and reach Islamabad,” he told the party workers.
“If you find hindrances along the way, turn every road, every street and every corner into Srinagar Highway,” the former foreign minister said, promising that “whatever may come”, the programme for the march would stay the same.
Qureshi also clarified that PTI never had the policy that promoted violence or conflict. “All our political activities have always been peaceful. We organised rallies and gatherings which were attended by millions but never was violence or conflict reported in any of them,” he added.
Umar and Qureshi stressed that the only solution to the chaos in the country is fresh elections. “If you really care about the country, make a choice today. Because the people of the country have decided that they won’t accept slavery or any imported government,” the PTI general secretary said.
“We are not asking you to make Imran Khan the prime minister or to bring back PTI,” he continued, adding: “We want you to bring people who can genuinely run the country.”
According to former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, “nearly 1,100 houses were raided and over 400 women and men were arrested overnight”. A police officer was martyred during the chaos on Monday night.
Meanwhile, videos of the police action, that are doing rounds on social media, drew widespread condemnation from politicians, journalists and other quarters.
