PTI forms committee for withdrawal of 'false' Azadi March cases

• PTI leader Asad Umar says "we haven't forgotten May 25 nor will let [anyone] forget it".
• "Anti Victimisation and Accountability Committee" to collect details of all cases registered against PTI members in Punjab.
• Committee to identify officials responsible for "illegal/criminal actions initiate legal proceedings against them."

PTI general secretary Asad Umar on Wednesday announced that an "Anti Victimisation and Accountability Committee" has been formed in Punjab to get all the cases — filed in connection with the party's "Azadi March" on May 25 — withdrawn through a legal process.

Taking to Twitter, Umar said that the committee "will collect the details of all the fake cases registered against PTI members in Punjab and take legal steps to have them withdrawn."

It will also work to identify the officials responsible for "illegal/criminal actions against PTI members in Punjab and initiate legal proceedings against them."

"No one should think that we have forgotten May 25 [because] we haven't nor will let [anyone] forget. A committee is being formed which will get all the fake cases withdrawn legally and take action as per the law against the officials who followed illegal orders to torture people and took illegal action," Umar wrote.

The seven-member panel has been formed in line with the decision of PTI's core committee, with former education minister Shafqat Mahmood as the convener and Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Yasmin Rashid, Aon Abbas Buppi, Raja Basharat, Burhan Moazzam Malik and Hafiz Farhat Abbas as the committee members.

The long march

On May 25, former prime minister Imran Khan led a convoy — that was joined by people across the country — to Islamabad to achieve "haqeeqi azadi" [true freedom], but the government invoked Section 144 to bar the marchers from entering Islamabad and hold gatherings. The roads and major thoroughfares leading to the federal capital were barricaded with containers and other obstacles.

The night before the D-day, police carried out various raids at the houses of PTI leaders. Unaffected by the government's measures, the PTI marchers continued to advance the next day and amid shelling by the police, former energy minister Hammad Azhar was injured and was provided with basic medical treatment at a rural health clinic.

Earlier, the police even tried to arrest Azhar but the party workers managed to save him.

On the same day, the police attacked former health minister Yasmin Rashid’s car, breaking her windscreen in an attempt to stop her from moving forward.

According to footage circulated on social media, the police used batons to stop her; however, the car continued to move ahead despite losing balance.

Later, multiple PTI leaders including, Imran Khan, Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Umar, Imran Ismail and others were booked for "rioting" during the long march.