Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Rarely does a ‘democratic’ nation divide itself like this: on one side is the Pakistan Army, Parliament, and the government, and on the other is the country’s judiciary and the main Opposition party.
Nothing could have been more ironic in this South Asian country, which once brazenly nurtured the Taliban and other terrorist outfits but always remained in denial mode, claimed innocence, and even victimhood: on Wednesday, the government ‘requested’ embattled former Prime Minister Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, whose open support to the Taliban had earned him the nickname of “Taliban Khan”, to handover “30-40 terrorists holed up in his Zaman Park residence in Lahore residence within 24 hours.”
After Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, his angry supporters went berserk across Pakistan and torched several properties and military installations, leaving over a dozen people dead and hundreds wounded. Islamabad branded these arsonists and rioters as “terrorists”, booked them under anti-terrorist and other stringent laws, and rounded up almost the entire senior leadership of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) political outfit. Two days ago, the government also vowed to crush these “terrorists” within 72 hours.
It was against this backdrop that Punjab’s Interim Information Minister Amir Mir said on Wednesday that “technical and intelligence” information had been received through geo-fencing that “terrorists” were seeking refuge at Imran Khan’s residence. He said that these people also included those who had attacked the Lahore Corps Commander’s House, also known as “Jinnah House.”
“That is why the PTI leadership is being requested to hand over these terrorists. The Punjab interim government is giving the PTI leadership 24 hours to hand them over, as they were involved in attacks on military installations and are seeking refuge in Zaman Park, to Punjab police,” Mir said, the media reported.
This is part of the Shehbaz Sharif government’s massive crackdown on Imran Khan and his party leaders for their alleged involvement in violent protests that rocked Pakistan this month. During the violent and widespread protests, which began after the ex-PM was arrested by the country’s notorious anti-corruption organization the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), PTI leaders and workers stormed Pakistan Army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, torched Shehbaz Sharif’s residence, and attacked Pakistan Army’s Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore.
After this, as Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and some others got bail in different cases, the provincial and federal governments started arresting workers and top leaders including former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is PTI’s Vice-Chairman.
Reacting to the relentless crackdown on Wednesday, Imran Khan condemned the “illegal arrests” and “abduction” of his party workers and leaders. He said Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Secretary-General Asad Umar had also been incarcerated for more than a week now.
“Also, despite court orders, journalist Imran Riaz Khan has not been produced in court and there are confirmed reports of torture against him. I demand immediate release of all our female leaders, workers, and the female family members of our leaders and workers,” he said in a long tweet.
On Monday, he said that without any investigation into those responsible for the arson of a government building or dozens of deaths of unarmed protesters by bullet wounds, around 7,000 PTI workers, their leaders, and women had been jailed “with plans to ban the largest and only federal party” in Pakistan.
The former PM also claimed that there was a “London plan” (hinting at former PM Nawaz Sharif who lives there) under which the government was plotting to put his wife Bushra Begum in jail.
“Then will follow a complete crackdown on whatever is left of PTI leadership and workers. And finally, they will ban the largest and only federal party in Pakistan. (Just as they banned the Awami League in East Pakistan in 1970-71),” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Noor Alam Khan has called for the immediate suspension of salaries and pensions for serving and former government employees engaged in “anti-state activities” during the protests. Individuals who are currently unemployed should not be granted a “clearance certificate.”