ISLAMABAD: Top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former premier Imran Khan were arrested on Monday from the party’s Islamabad office, according to police, party officials and visuals widely shared on social media.
PTI social media accounts shared videos of dozens of policemen surrounding the party’s Islamabad secretariat on Monday morning, while visuals of the party’s information secretary, Raoof Hasan, being led away by police widely circulated online.
Islamabad police spokesperson Taqi Jawad and Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, Khan’s key adviser on media, confirmed to Arab News that Hasan and PTI Chairman Gohar Khan, who is also Khan’s lawyer, had both been arrested but that Gohar was later released.
“Barrister Gohar himself announced that he was not arrested by police and he is free, while Raoof Hasan was taken by security forces in a joint operation by the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) and Islamabad police,” Jawad told Arab News. “I am taking details of the charges against him and will share with the media.”
Hasan’s arrest comes after those of several other PTI members in the last few days, including the party’s top media manager Ahmed Waqqas Janjua.
Bukhari said an anti-terrorism court remanded Janjua today, Monday, into police custody for seven days. According to the PTI and Janjua’s lawyer, the investigating officer said explosives were recovered during Janjua’s arrest and links with outlawed organizations would be probed.
“We demanded that at least family should be given right to visit him (Janjua) and the judge said that he will write it in the order,” Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, Janjua’s lawyer, told Arab News. “Now we will pursue the case further against the remand order.”
The federal government of PM Shehbaz Sharif last week announced plans to ban the PTI and moved the country’s top court to press treason charges against Khan.
Khan came to power in 2018 and was ousted in 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which had helped propel him into office. The army denies political interference.
Since his ouster, the PTI founder and his party have faced an ever-widening state-backed crackdown and Khan himself has been in jail since August last year. He was acquitted earlier this month in one of the last standing convictions against him but was not freed after authorities issued new orders to arrest him in another case involving riots by his followers in May last year.
Khan, arguably the country’s most popular politician, says all legal cases are motivated to keep him out of politics and dent the popularity of the PTI.
The convictions against him had ruled him out of Feb. 8 general elections, which all candidates from his party were forced to contest as independents after the election commission denied the party its iconic symbol of a cricket bat on technical grounds.
Despite the setbacks, Khan-backed candidates won the most seats in the polls but could not form the government, which is now being led by Sharif’s PMLN party in coalition with other parties.
Noose tightens around Imran Khan’s party as information secretary arrested in Islamabad
https://arab.news/gc6ze
Noose tightens around Imran Khan’s party as information secretary arrested in Islamabad
- The development comes days after the arrest of several other PTI members, including the party’s top media manager
- Pakistan last week announced plans to ban ex-PM Khan’s PTI party, moved top court to press treason charges against him
Pakistan top IT association backs $1 billion AI plan announced at Indus Summit
- Private sector pledges support for AI push, calls tech sector engine of future growth
- Government to fund 1,000 AI PhDs, train one million professionals under digital strategy
KARACHI: Pakistan’s main software industry association on Tuesday backed the government’s plan to invest $1 billion in artificial intelligence by 2030, pledging private-sector support for what officials describe as a national push toward digital transformation.
The commitment was announced during Indus AI Week in Islamabad, held earlier this month, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif outlined plans to fund artificial intelligence development, including scholarships and workforce training.
The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), representing IT exporters and technology firms, said the private sector would play a central role in implementing the strategy.
“The IT sector is no longer merely a participant in Pakistan’s economy,” said Sajjad Syed, the association’s chairman, in a statement. “It is the fundamental engine of our future growth.”
“The commitments made at the Indus AI Summit provide a much-needed, evidence-based structural framework,” he added. “P@SHA, representing the collective strength of Pakistan’s software and tech enterprises, stands fully prepared to translate this policy into export-driven, practical realities.”
Syed said the integration of AI was no longer optional, describing it as a “matter of global survival and economic sovereignty.”
The government said the initiative includes funding for 1,000 PhD scholarships in artificial intelligence and a federal mandate to train one million non-IT professionals in advanced technology skills.
The Indus AI Week event drew participation from local and international technology companies, universities, and investors, according to organizers. It included technical bootcamps and industry panels aimed at accelerating AI adoption.
Pakistan’s IT exports reached $2.2 billion in July–December FY26, marking a 20 percent year-on-year increase, the statement said, as the country seeks to expand its technology sector to support foreign exchange earnings.
The AI push comes as Islamabad looks to modernize its digital infrastructure and attract technology investment while positioning the country as a competitive player in emerging technologies.
