PTI delegation meets CEC.
Party leaders meet with the electoral chief to address the subject of their election campaign as well as the current scenario in Lahore.
ISLAMABAD:
On Thursday, a senior PTI team visited the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and spoke with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja.
Vice Chairperson Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary General Asad Umar, and Malika Bukhari were all members of the PTI delegation.
Leaders of the former ruling party spoke with the CEC on Punjab’s interim administration’s stance.
They also brought up the election campaign and the incident that occurred yesterday in Lahore when police used excessive force to disperse PTI supporters, resulting in at least one fatality and numerous injuries.
The party’s top brass will speak with the media following the meeting.
To kick off its election campaign, the PTI announced a rally on Wednesday from Zaman Park to Data Darbar. Imran was supposed to lead the rally at first. Nonetheless, public meetings are prohibited by the district government.
In order to stop the PTI workers from moving towards Mall Road, police were sent to the Zaman Park neighbourhood, near where PTI Chairman Imran Khan lives.
As the day got underway, the government announced the implementation of Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), prohibiting gatherings, rallies, sit-ins, etc. for seven days in Lahore due to security threats and public nuisance.
The Lahore police began detaining PTI activists on Mall Road as soon as the notification was issued. Containers and barriers were also set up by the police to obstruct the activists’ progress.
As the police moved to block every entrance leading to Zaman Park from every direction, their presence in the area began to grow. ARF (Anti-Riot Force), jail vans, and water cannons were then brought in.
On the other hand, PTI employees moved to obstruct the police’s progress while brandishing clubs and sticks. After that, police utilised water cannons, baton charges, and heavy tear gas shelling to scatter them.
Both sides posted videos of the clashes on social media, which showed the police employing force against the PTI workers.
Imran and Fawad are cited by ECP
The former prime minister Imran Khan and Chaudhry Fawad Hussain were given arrest warrants by the ECP that are subject to bail in connection with “contemptuous remarks” made against the electoral chief before to the meeting with the CEC.
The panel reportedly also instructed both PTI leaders to appear before it on March 14.
Imran Khan’s “intentional” failure to appear before the commission and his ridiculing of the law, according to the ECP’s order, constitute intolerable behaviour.
There was no choice but to issue a warrant against the former prime minister in light of the fact that neither he nor any of his attorneys attended the previous session, according to the document. The PTI leader was also compelled by the ECP to post a Rs. 50,000 bond as a security.
