In Lahore, PTI officials turned themselves in for arrest on Wednesday as the party’s “Jail Bharo Tehreek” (court arrest drive) got underway. According to former premier Imran Khan, the drive is intended to counter the “attack” on the party’s fundamental rights and the economic “meltdown.” Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Senator Azam Swati were all seen in PTI video sitting inside a police van. The party additionally asserted that those in charge of the arrests had “vanished.” The PTI leaders’ forced entry into the prison van was confirmed by a media reporter. Police have not yet been reported to have made any arrests.
In a video, speaking from inside the police van, Qureshi said that it gave him a great deal of pride to be the first to turn himself in as promised earlier. This movement will continue, he declared, “until the imported government ends the lawlessness in the nation” and is held accountable for the previous ten months in the people’s court. Qureshi, Umar, and Ejaz Chaudhry were among the party officials and workers who reportedly turned themselves in for arrest, according to PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry. In a video message, he stated that “between 500 and 700 PTI workers have offered themselves up for arrest.” The police, according to Chaudhry, had police vans ready when they arrived, but were “worried after seeing the thousands of people.”
He thanked PTI workers for their response and said the movement would move forward, adding that today’s protest would be limited to Lahore and would continue till the evening before moving to Peshawar tomorrow (Thursday).
In a talk with reporters in Lahore earlier in the day, Qureshi had said Imran had told him to not turn himself in for arrest as he was the “number two leader” after the party chief but he had decided to “set a tradition” of party leaders giving arrest first instead of the workers.
He also mentioned the alleged campaign being run by the PML-N against the judiciary while detailing the reason for the party’s movement.
“The attack that the PML-N leadership has carried out on the judiciary is unprecedented.
