Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), criticized Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Sunday for attempting to “cover up” the mistreatment of party members who are currently in custody, particularly women.
In a press conference held after midnight, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah asserted that intelligence services had heard a conversation indicating that the PTI was preparing two distinct actions, which he referred to as “dramas.” The minister claimed the intercept showed the Khan-led party was preparing some sort of action at a specific home without providing any additional information.
He also claimed the intercepted conversations indicated that a “rape act” would be committed and blamed on law enforcers. “It was thought that perhaps this drama would be unfolded [tonight] so it was decided to inform the nation of these fiendish designs,” he claimed.
Reacting to his presser, the former prime minister said Sanaullah is “so obviously trying to cover up and preempt the horror stories about to break in the media.”
“If there were any doubts about women being mistreated in jails, this press conference from this certified criminal should remove all such doubts,” he wrote on Twitter.
The cricketer-turned-politician lamented that women have never been so mistreated and “harassed by the state as they have been by this fascist govt” when they were exercising their right to protest peacefully.
Khan’s brief arrest earlier this month sparked days of street protests after which the PTI leaders’ exodus started, as security forces launched a crackdown against the party following the attacks on civil and military institutions, including the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander’s House (Jinnah House).
Over 70 lawyers and leaders — including Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, Ali Zaidi, Imran Ismail, Aamir Mehmood Kiani, Malik Amin Aslam, Mahmood Moulvi, Maleeka Bokhari, Mussarrat and Jamshed Cheema among others — have parted ways with the PTI so far, following the May 9 mayhem.
In a separate tweet, Khan lamented the raids at Omar Ayub and Shahzad Akbar’s residence.
“Today we are living in dark ages…Constitution violated, court decisions openly flouted, houses broken in without a warrant and smashed, media muzzled and no one to protect our fundamental rights,” he wrote.
