By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Police in Punjab province have detained elderly parents and siblings of opposition activists who evaded arrest, including a 93-year-old man held until officials were informed of his failing health, as authorities mount an escalating campaign to stop a nationwide protest planned for Sept. 27, local media reported.
The detentions are part of a broader crackdown on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, whose leaders say the government is trying to suppress what they are calling a “Justice March” demanding the release of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Provincial spokesperson Brig. (Ret.) Mushtaq said 123 people had been arrested in Rawalpindi alone, and that when police could not locate wanted activists, they detained family members instead — mothers, sisters, elderly parents — to pressure the men into surrendering.
In Mianwali, Mushtaq said, the 93-year-old father of an activist who had evaded police was arrested and held until senior officials learned of his condition and ordered his release. In cases involving mothers or sisters, he said, detainees were freed only after another relative came forward to take their place.
“The tactic would not subdue PTI or prevent it from holding a massive rally on September 27,” Mushtaq said.
The arrests are unfolding alongside a parallel legal effort to stop the protest before it happens. A citizen has petitioned the Islamabad High Court to block the Sept. 27 demonstration, arguing it would disrupt traffic, commerce and daily life in the capital, and police officials say they are waiting on the court’s ruling before finalising security plans — plans that, regardless of the outcome, already call for sealing the city.
Islamabad police have requisitioned more than 1,000 shipping containers, with more than 100 already positioned at chokepoints including Faizabad, Tarnol and Sangjani, to seal off the Red Zone, the capital’s high-security government district, along with major highways and entry points. Authorities are also seeking more than 15,000 additional personnel from the Punjab and Sindh police, the Federal Constabulary and the paramilitary Rangers, and have ordered the capital’s anti-riot unit to restock tear gas shells and equipment. Demand for containers has grown so acute, with Punjab and Sindh police making similar requests, that officials say they may have to source additional units independently if contractors run short.
Separately, Rawalpindi’s district administration has issued detention orders for more than 30 PTI workers and activists under a colonial-era public order law that allows officials to order preventive detention for up to 90 days without trial, a police official told Dawn.
“Definitely, the entry points will be sealed with containers and other obstacles, in addition to heavy deployment of law enforcement to maintain law and order,” a senior police official said.
PTI is not backing down. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, whose party controls that province, is planning a three- to four-day mobilisation tour through Punjab in the coming days, expected to begin between Sept. 16 and 20, after spending recent days rallying supporters in Sindh. Organisers were weighing entry routes into Punjab, including through Mianwali or Rawalpindi, or a flight to Multan followed by travel to Lahore and on to Rawalpindi.
In Lahore, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan appealed directly to the legal community, telling a lawyers’ convention at the Lahore High Court that an independent judiciary depended on their support. He pressed the case of Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who remains jailed, asking whether any woman in Pakistan’s history had been imprisoned as long, and called her treatment without precedent.
“We only want justice and are standing for the protection of the people’s rights,” Gohar said, urging supporters to join the march.
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