LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Salman Akram Raja and Sardar Latif Khosa have been arrested as party leaders and workers staged nationwide protests against alleged rigging in February 8 general election and stealing of mandate.
PTI leaders and workers took to streets across the country with rallies being held in various cities of Punjab, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad, along with protests in Karachi, Kandhkot, Tank and other cities.
According to a PTI spokesperson, the nation would never accept the “proven, most corrupt persons as the president and prime minister of the country against their will”.
Meanwhile, the Punjab police took Sardar Latif Khosa into custody in Lahore after authorities started arresting protesting PTI workers.
In a statement, Shehbaz Khosa said his father was arrested by station house officer (SHO) Cantt. “We have no information where the police have taken him [Latif Khosa],” he said.
Taking to X, Sher Afzal Marwat called the arrest “utterly deplorable and wholly intolerable”, adding that the authorities in Punjab need to stop the “unfair behaviour”.
The police have also arrested PTI-backed provincial assembly member Hafiz Farhat Abbas – who was participating in the protest against ‘election rigging’.
Similarly, the police arrested senior party leader and lawyer Salman Akram Raja from Lahore’s Ichhra.
On the other hand, the PTI said party leader Mian Tariq Mehmood was arrested during a protest in Gujranwala.
PTI South Punjab President Moin Riaz Qureshi and Multan President Malik Adnan Dogar were also arrested during a protest in Multan, the party said on X.
In Karachi, police and Sindh Rangers personnel have been deployed in front of the Korangi Deputy Commissioner’s office in anticipation of protest by PTI workers.
In Rawalpindi, PTI workers and police came face to face after a demonstration rally led by Seemabia Tahir was prevented from entering the city via the Khanna Pul route.
Furthermore, protests and demonstrations were also held in Faisalabad, Vehari, Khushab, Islamabad, Multan, Gujranwala and other cities as well. –Agencies
