New Delhi: A PTI rally in Islamabad has once again brought to the surface the rising intolerance in the Pakistani state. Authorities have been arresting several leaders of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party and booking them under terrorism charges. Such was the crackdown that even a serving chief minister went missing for a few hours.
The crackdown reportedly started on Monday, a day after the PTI rally, with PTI president Gohar Ali Khan being taken into custody first, along with Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, and Advocate Shoaib Shaheen from Parliament. They were later charged under terrorism charges, Dawn reported.
Marwat was arrested under the new Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill 2024, for allegedly clashing with police officers on the day of the rally. The bill was brought in the Senate a week before the PTI rally was held on 8 September.
According to reports, some PTI leaders were also hiding inside Parliament to escape arrests.
On Monday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Amin Ali Gandapur was reported missing. Gandapur in his rally speech had directly targetted the military and the ruling alliance and said, “Put your house in order,” warning against any attempt at a military trial for Khan.
“I am not scared of the army uniform. Fix your organisation, fix your Generals and fix yourself,” Gandapur had said.
Initially, the KP government spokesperson denied knowledge of the CM’s whereabouts but later expressed concerns that he might have been detained.
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‘No Khan, no Pakistan’
What started as a highly anticipated rally, saw the capital city turn into a ‘containeristan’ — there were containers placed all around the city to prevent protesters from reaching the venue. The situation quickly spiraled into a spectacle of drama and detentions.
“The jalsa on Sunday has simply accentuated the stalemate the country faces. It is hard to sense any change in the direction of the winds; in fact, all one can sense is the stillness,” journalist Arifa Noor wrote.
Thousands of supporters of Imran Khan reportedly took to the streets on Sunday to demand his release. Although the demonstration was largely peaceful, reportedly, violence erupted when some protesters clashed with police on a highway, about a mile from the town of Sanjrani on the outskirts of Islamabad, where the rally was held.
In Sanjrani, PTI leaders delivered impassioned speeches, threatening to forcibly free Khan from prison if he is not released within two weeks.
In a fiery address to the National Assembly, PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan criticised the recent arrests of his fellow party members. “Today, I am making a case on democracy. Last night, what happened to democracy and to this Parliament. We are not in Israel, we are in Pakistan,” he said.
In response, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif launched a rebuttal, questioning the PTI’s rhetoric. “If you claim ‘No Khan, no Pakistan,’ what do you expect the reaction to be?”
Political analysts however condemned the arrests.
“Mass arrests of PTI parliamentarians following a successful rally is yet another low for Pakistan. That the elected leader of a province is missing following his speech is only going to further inflame tensions in a province that is already boiling,” political analyst Uzair Younus wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Gandapur also faced widespread condemnation for his offensive remarks about media, women, and the Punjab Chief Minister during a public rally, prompting PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan to issue an apology.
Journalists’ organisations and human rights groups, including the HRCP and Aurat Foundation, criticised Gandapur’s remarks, particularly toward female journalists whom he called ‘sold out’. The Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) also demanded an apology for his threatening and inappropriate behaviour.
“The contents of many of the speeches veered towards the needlessly confrontational, which does not bode well for Pakistan’s fragile order going forward. The KP chief minister, in particular, seemed unwilling to keep passions in check and made some remarks that could precipitate fresh hostilities between his party and the federal and Punjab governments,” Dawn wrote in its editorial.