Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan
Credit: Reuters photo
Islamabad: Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Tuesday kicked off a token hunger strike by setting up a camp outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.
The decision to launch this protest comes a day after authorities raided the PTI central office in the capital and arrested its information secretary Raoof Hasan, followed by sealing off the office building.
Pakistani authorities sealed the central office of Khan's party here over violation of safety standards.
Islamabad's Metropolitan Corporation took action on Monday amidst rising legal challenges faced by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its founder Khan.
PTI chief Gohar Khan told journalists outside the Parliament that the hunger strike would be observed daily till 8 pm as a token protest to press for the release of 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician and reverse the injustice being done to the party.
He said the protest conveyed the party’s position against the “injustice, unfairness, and the illegal and unconstitutional things that are happening [to us].” "The PTI founder (Khan) and his wife have been imprisoned for no reason. This camp will continue till the release of the PTI founder," he said.
Khan has been imprisoned at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for almost a year upon his conviction in three cases — the Toshakhana corruption case, the cipher case, and the un-Islamic marriage case -- in which his wife, Bushra Bibi, is also jailed.
Though Khan had secured bail or his conviction was set aside, he has not been released.
Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been kept in jail in various cases.
Gohar also said that the party’s reservations regarding "illegal and unconstitutional actions" had been conveyed to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and the party decided to raise voice for the PTI lawmakers and their families who were being picked up.
He also strongly condemned the sealing of the party’s secretariat in the federal capital.
Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said that the major demand was to set Khan and his wife free.
"Our first demand is to release the PTI founder, his wife Bushra Bibi and other detainees, including Raoof Hasan and party workers," he said.
He also demanded the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government to immediately resign over "bad governance and mismanaging the economy".
The strike came as authorities were gradually increasing pressure on the PTI, which continued to target the establishment and the government. Despite dozens of cases against Khan, he has refused to soften his tone and instead routinely criticise the Army leadership.
PTI leaders have also kept up the pressure on the government by calling it illegal which allegedly came to power through fraudulent elections.