ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s six-party opposition alliance, the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (or the Movement to Protect the Constitution of Pakistan) announced this week it would hold a countrywide protest on July 26 to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan and other “political prisoners” in the country.
Khan, who ruled the country as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been in jail after being convicted in four cases since last August. Two of the cases have since been suspended and he was acquitted in a third.
Last week, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were arrested by Pakistani authorities in a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts, after a court accepted their appeals against a ruling that they had violated the country’s marriage law and ordered their immediate release.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party says it has been facing a crackdown and mass arrest of its members for standing by Khan. Pakistani authorities deny the allegations.
“Opposition alliance of Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) announced to hold a countrywide protest on Friday (July 26) for the release of all political prisoners including PTI Founding Chairman Imran Khan and reclaiming the stolen mandate,” a press release issued after the alliance’s meeting on Saturday said.
The six-party alliance comprises the PTI, the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Balochistan National Party (Mengal), as well as three religious parties: Jamaat-e-Islami, the Sunni Ittehad Council and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen
Khan’s party also claims that the national election held in February this year was heavily rigged to keep him and the PTI away from power. Pakistan’s government and election regulator have rejected these allegations.
’INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL COMMISSION’
Separately, the alliance also called for the formation of an independent judicial commission to probe a recent shooting at a Bannu rally in northwestern Pakistan that triggered a stampede and resulted in casualties and injuries to several.
At least two persons were killed and more than 20 injured after gunfire triggered a stampede at the procession attended by tens of thousands of people in the northwestern city on Friday.
The demonstration was held at a time when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, has witnessed a surge in attacks on security forces, government officials and anti-polio vaccination teams in recent weeks.
The shocking increase in daily attacks led the residents of the area to demand peace only a few days after 10 soldiers were killed by militants in Bannu’s cantonment area.
“They demanded that an independent judicial commission should be constituted immediately to probe into the deaths and injuries caused by the firings on Bannu Aman [Peace] March,” the statement read.
The alliance stressed the need for a judicial commission to probe the incident, saying it should be headed by a serving judge. The alliance said the judge should be “free from any external pressure” to ensure a transparent investigation into the Bannu incident.
The press release added the meeting criticized senior police and provincial administration officials, saying they had “miserably failed in restoring peace in the province” and must be dismissed.
