The police gonda gardi was on its peak. They treated the protestors as terrorists while the big institutions were asleep. How muhc anarchy they want the people to commit into.
Former prime minister Imran Khan called off his rally in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday hours after police used water cannons and fired tear gas to disperse supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Khan’s PTI party said Ali Bilal, a supporter, was killed while police said two dozen Khan supporters were arrested after they defyed the government’s ban on holding rallies in the country. Khan planned to kick off his party’s campaign for elections in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province from the Lahore rally today.
Khan’s party and its ally dissolved provincial assemblies in Punjab and KP in January. Both moves were undertaken by Khan to force the government to hold early elections across the country. Last week, President Alvi announced April 30 as the date for elections in Punjab.
A senior leader from Khan’s party, Hammad Azhar, said police detained scores of their supporters ahead of the planned rally, which was to start in Lahore’s upscale Zaman Park area where Khan lives. In a video message shared on social media, Khan accused the government of resorting to violence to “escape” upcoming polls.
“I’m telling my supporters to go to your homes and do not be involved in any anarchy so that they [government] do not have any excuse to run away from elections,” he added. In another Twitter post, Khan said Bilal was unarmed when he was allegedly killed by Punjab police. “Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals,” he wrote. “We will file cases against IG, CCPO & others for murder.”
Police also swung batons and briefly fired tear gas on the road leading to Khan’s house to disperse his supporters. TV footage showed at least one large truck spraying water, scattering protesters.
The 70-year-old former cricket star is embroiled in a slew of court cases, including terrorism charges raised by the police in various parts of the country. He has so far avoided arrest and claims the legal imbroglio has been orchestrated by the government in an attempt to silence him.
