Security is on a high alert in different cities of the country today in view of the PTI’s protests against rigging in the general elections, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Police personnel have taken their positions not only at the GPO Chowk in Lahore where the party staged a protest demonstration, but also outside the Punjab Assembly, the Lahore High Court, PTI’s office at Jail Road and ex-party chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence.
The PTI said that its “peaceful protesters” in Lahore were arrested as they staged protests against alleged poll rigging. In a post on X platform, the PTI shared a video showing policemen forcing a man to get out of a car and taking him to the police van to detain him.
At Lahore’s GPO Chowk, police have rounded up two PTI leaders Mian Shehzad Farooq and Hafiz Zeeshan and several workers after they reached there from Shalamar Chowk.
Similarly, in Shahdara locality of the city, police arrested Ali Ijaz Buttar, who was a PTI-backed candidate from NA-117 in the recent elections, and nine party workers.
https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1763870774903947664
In Islamabad, PTI workers have started gathering outside the press club on the call given by the party leadership, while a heavy police contingent is also present at the site.
In Rawalpindi, Islamabad’s twin city, a large number of PTI workers, who had earlier congregated at Liaquat Bagh, have begun their march towards the federal capital under the leadership of party stalwart and orator Sher Afzal Marwat.
The rally will reach Islamabad via Faizabad.
Talking to reporters, PTI’s Shehryar Riaz said the government is afraid of the party’s rally. “That is why it has imposed section 144 in Islamabad,” he said, and added, “We will continue to protest unless we are given back the mandate the people of Pakistan have given to us.”
https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1763872696637497855
https://twitter.com/HaleemAdil/status/1763869348551360700
Reporters: Farzana Siddique, Irshad Qureshi, Ali Hassan Malik, Usman Khadim Kamboh, Romail Ilyas