Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Central Punjab headquarters here was sealed by authorities on Tuesday, a day after it was opened on the court's order, as the state crackdown on the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party continued.
Police along with the officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) raided the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Central Punjab headquarters in Lahore and sealed it. The police also picked up some PTI workers present there.
"Police and the LDA have violated the Lahore High Court's order by illegally sealing PTI’s Punjab office. We will file a contempt of court petition against them," the party's Punjab secretary, information, Shayan Bashir said.
Supporters of the PTI claimed that all political parties except those of the party have been given a free hand to launch their political activities in the run-up to the February 8, 2024, general elections.
Police pounce on PTI workers wherever they hold any political event in the country. None of its leaders or workers are even allowed to hold press conferences, they alleged.
During the last month or so, the police in Punjab province arrested around 500 PTI workers in connection with the May 9 violence.
According to PTI, over 10,000 of its leaders and workers have been in jail since early May in connection with attacks on military and state installations following the arrest of its chief and former prime minister Khan.
On Monday, Khan told reporters in Adiala Jail that he is ready to die but will not strike any deal or compromise with the military establishment.
During the open hearing of the cipher case, Khan said that putting him and his workers in jail and breaking his party was part of the 'London Plan' under which a deal was struck with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to bring him to power.
Sharif returned to Pakistan in October after spending nearly four years on self-exile in London.