Imran Khan’s party alleges deliberate crackdown against his party’s candidates ahead of Feb 8 polls in Pakistan

Lahore, Jan 29 (PTI) Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf on Monday condemned the brutal crackdown by police and oppression on participants of the party's election campaign ahead of the February 8 general elections.
     The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) also vowed that the people will take revenge for these cruelties and fascism through the power of their vote.
     Khan and PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is also the former foreign minister, have been incarcerated at the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi for over six months. The election commission has not just snatched away the party’s cricket bat symbol but also rejected the nomination papers of both Khan and Qureshi on various pretexts.
     The party has now claimed that police arrested dozens of PTI workers and candidates in a crackdown across the country over the last few days. In Karachi, police pounced on a PTI rally on Sunday arresting over 30 workers. Similarly, in Punjab province, the police arrested dozens of PTI workers for violating Section 144, which bans the assembly of four persons.
     Interestingly, this section appears to be applicable only to the PTI while the other parties are holding rallies on a daily basis to bolster the election campaign, the party leaders said.
     “People came out in massive numbers across the length and breadth of the country on the appeal of PTI supremo Imran Khan by breaking the idols of fear, giving a sleepless night to its political rivals, besides putting a stamp on PTI being the un-debatable political forces and Imran Khan being the most popular political leader in the country,” PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said in a statement.
     “As the elections are drawing nearer, an alarming upsurge has been witnessed in the crackdowns on PTI’s candidates and workers, their illegal abductions and disruptions in holding peaceful public gatherings, clearly reflecting the rising popularity of Khan’s party,” the statement said.
     He lamented that all social and moral values, including the constitution, and democracy, are being trampled upon “to impose the certified national criminals – Sharifs and Zardaris -- on the country once again by suppressing the public opinion, who ruthlessly plundered the country’s wealth during the last several decades.”
     “All kinds of unconstitutional and fascist tactics are being implied to debar PTI’s candidates from carrying out election campaigns, while unfortunately special facilitation is being provided to other political parties under the state patronage,” he said.
     After unlawful raids at PTI candidates' houses and their abductions, they are not even allowed to display their election banners and to hold public gatherings, which is a clear violation of the constitution and election rules and regulations, the party claimed.
     “The failure of all shameful tactics such as depriving the PTI of a level playing field and denying its constitutional right of an election symbol has left the planners in deep fear and anxiety,” he said and added, the unending spate of state fascism, repression and vindictive actions against PTI for the past two years could not reduce the love in the hearts of the people for their beloved leader Imran Khan.
     The PTI also demanded that the ongoing proceedings of unconstitutional trial in the ‘false and fabricated’ cipher case should be annulled instantly and the party supremo Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi should be released forthwith.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)