Khan, in a tweet, said party worker Ali Bilal was “murdered by Punjab police”. “Shameful, this brutality on unarmed PTI workers who were coming to attend an election rally. Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals.”
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has called off a rally scheduled to be held in Lahore on Wednesday after an activist of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was allegedly killed during a police crackdown on party supporters who gathered outside his residence, defying a government ban on rallies in the city.
Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the party’s PTI activists. Dozens of PTI supporters were also arrested. The party, however, claimed that its peaceful workers were arrested after the provincial authorities placed the city under Section 144, banning public gatherings.
Khan, in a tweet, said party worker Ali Bilal was “murdered by Punjab police”. “Shameful, this brutality on unarmed PTI workers who were coming to attend an election rally. Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals.”
Khan said the party would file cases against the Punjab inspector general, the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) and others for “murder”.
Khan, in another tweet shared a video of Bilal.
“So he was killed while in police custody — such is the murderous bent of the present regime and the Punjab police,” he said.
A statement issued by the Punjab government spokesperson said caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi took strict notice of the incident and ordered a “completely impartial and fact-based inquiry”.
“The CM has ordered that whoever is found involved, the requirements of justice under the law should be fulfilled,” the statement said.
It said the purported videos being shown by the PTI of Bilal in police custody were not from today but the ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’.
“A deliberate lie is being spread that this person was in police custody. CCTV footage revealed that the deceased was dropped off at Services Hospital by a private vehicle. A search is on for the vehicle and its occupants through safe city cameras to reveal the truth,” the statement added.
The PTI chief later called off the rally.
“You all should stop this protest because I fear the government will take this as an excuse to stop the elections from going ahead,” former Prime Minister Imran Khan said, referring to the elections in the province.
“They are trying to create a law and order situation and that is why I am asking my supporters that we must stop today. We are calling it off,” Khan said.
The provincial Punjab government has banned public gatherings of more than four people for a week from Wednesday, hours before Khan’s party was scheduled to organise an election rally in Lahore.
The provincial Home Department said the ban was imposed on “holding all kinds of assemblies, gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, processions, demonstrations, protests and such like other activities across the district Lahore to avert any untoward incident”.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
