PESHAWAR/CHITRAL: Pakistan Peoples Party has asked the government to release its activists detained in Islamabad otherwise it could give a call to the workers for a march on Islamabad to hold a sit-in against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.

In a statement issued in Peshawar on Thursday, PPP provincial president Mohammad Humayun Khan condemned the Islamabad police for what he described as resorting to violence against the peaceful workers.

He said that the lawyers had applied for release of the workers, but they were shifted to Adiala Jail. He said that the PPP activists had come to show solidarity with party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the occasion of his appearance in the National Accountability Bureau.

Demands immediate release of its activists held in federal capital

“Prime Minister Imran Khan should not test the patience of PPP workers and issue orders for their release,” he said and added that no one could frighten his party workers through arrests or imprisonment because they were the followers of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto who had already sacrificed their lives for strengthening democracy.

Humayun Khan warned that if the government did not change its attitude towards the political workers the PPP leadership would give a call for long march on Islamabad and besiege Adiala Jail besides observing a sit-in outside parliament.

He said the PPP leadership had always respected law of the land and faced courts despite ‘fabricated’ cases. “Our party is ready to face such hardships, but the workers will not bow down to any pressure,” the party’s provincial chief said. He warned that the rulers would have to face similar action if they did not change their anti-opposition policies.

He asked the party workers to remain prepared for a call of the leadership most possibly for a long march on Islamabad.

In Chitral, the local leaders of PPP, including Fazle Rabbi Jan, Alam Zeb advocate, Amirullah Khan and Shamsur Rahman Laal, have condemned the government for instituting ‘baseless’ corruption cases against Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, they said the arrests of PPP workers in Rawalpindi and Islamabad had exposed the mentality of the rulers who claimed to be the champions of democracy.

They claimed that transfer of the cases of PPP leaders from Sindh to Rawalpindi was part of machination having no legal ground. The activists assured the party leaders that they would come on to the streets as and when called to do so and were ready to offer any sacrifice for protecting democracy in the country.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2019