LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to quash cases registered against PTI workers for their clashes with the law enforcers during the May 25 long march on Islamabad.

Provincial Home Minister retired Col Muhammad Hashim Dogar said here on Sunday that the police had implicated PTI workers in false cases when they joined the long march on May 25 and that he has sought a report from all the relevant departments on the issue.

He said that the Prosecution Department and police have been directed to submit a complete inquiry report on the cases against PTI workers filed on the orders of the then ‘fascist’ government on May 25 to intimidate the workers from joining the march.

The home minister said that all these cases would be quashed, while the officers who instituted the cases at the behest of the political people were being questioned.

He announced initiating legal action against the representatives of the last ‘fascist’ government for filing the cases.

Mr Dogar said that the PML-N government had flouted the law in Punjab and now was doing in Islamabad and as police were being used for political purposes.

He said that the ‘paper lions’ were not finding a place to hide themselves to avert their arrests and addressing the PML-N leader said that they would not be treated like they had been treating their rivals while in power.

He, however, made it clear that the previous rulers would be held accountable for their wrongdoings as per the law.

Meanwhile, Media Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Umar Sarfaraz Cheema criticised the federal government for banning the live broadcasts of PTI leader Imran Khan’s speeches.

In a statement, he said that the step was ‘unconstitutional’ as it violated the right to free speech available to all citizens under Article 19-A of the Constitution.

He said that the ‘Sicilian’ mafia was using the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority law as a weapon to gag its opponents.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2022