PTI kicks off hunger strike to demand Imran Khan, other leaders' release

• Imran-founded party to hold countrywide protest on Friday: Shibli Faraz.
• Asad Qaiser demands PML-N-led coalition govt to immediately resign.
• PTI wants free and fair polls to pull country out of crisis: Omar Ayub.

ISLAMABAD: The embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday established a hunger strike camp outside the Parliament House in Islamabad to demand release of the party founder Imran Khan and other leaders.

The former ruling party has faced back-to-back setbacks in a few days as its central secretariat in the federal capital was sealed by the authorities earlier today a day after the party's Information Secretary Raoof Hasan was nabbed along with the other party workers.

A day earlier, Islamabad police took Hasan into custody from the party's Central Secretariat for heading a digital media cell and its alleged involvement in running anti-Pakistan propaganda.

Speaking to journalists outside parliament, the party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the hunger strike will be observed daily till 8pm as a token protest against "injustice" and for the PTI founder's release and the supremacy of the parliament.

He added that he conveyed his party’s reservations to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq over "illegal and unconstitutional actions".

The lawyer-cum-politician said that his party raised voice for the PTI lawmakers and their families who were being picked up.

"[The] PTI founder and his wife have been imprisoned for no reason. This camp will continue till the release of the PTI founder."

Gohar strongly condemned the sealing of the party’s secretariat in the federal capital.

It is noteworthy to mention here that the Islamabad administration sealed the PTI's central office earlier today over "lack of fire and life safety arrangements".

In a notice, which was obtained by Geo News, the administration said that the building lacked up-to-date fire extinguishers, emergency evacuation plan, an independent power source for the emergency system, and standard electric wiring.

The PTI secretariat was sealed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) two months ago during an anti-encroachment operation in which a portion of the party's central office was demolished. However, the party office reopened following the directives of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Another PTI senior leader and former NA speaker Asad Qaiser said: "Our first demand is to release the PTI founder, his wife Bushra Bibi and other detainees, including Hasan and party workers."

He held the federal government responsible for the recent wave of lawlessness and inflation across the country.

Qaiser urged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to immediately resign over "bad governance and mismanaging the economy". 

PTI's Secretary-General Omar Ayub Khan said that the token hunger strike was being observed for the release of the incarcerated former premier, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other arrested leaders and workers.

The opposition leader in the National Assembly censured the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) for sealing the PTI's central office once again. Instead of the PTI secretariat, the MCI should seal its own office "where mice running everywhere", he slammed.

Omar also demanded the "Form 47" government — a reference to the alleged manipulation in the February 8 election results — to immediately resign and announce fresh elections. He added that the PTI wanted free and fair polls to pull the country out of crisis.

Addressing the participants of the hunger strike camp, Shibli Faraz said that today's event was part of the PTI's political struggle. He also announced that the Imran-founded party will hold a countrywide protest on Friday, July 26, 2024.

Several PTI lawmakers joined the hunger strike camp including Gohar, Qaiser, Omar, Faraz, Latif Khosa, Ali Muhammad Khan, Falak Naz Chitrali, Sheikh Waqas, Senator Humayun Mohmand, Saifullah Abro, Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, Mehboob Shah, Sajid Mohmand, Dawar Kundi, and others.