Salman Akram Raja, PTI leaders say they are barred from entering UK before polls

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, along with party founder Imran Khan’s legal affairs spokesperson Naeem Panjutha and MPA Shaukat Basra, were reportedly barred from entering Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on Tuesday to participate in the final phase of election campaigning ahead of the upcoming June 7 polls.

In a post on X, Raja stated that the PTI leaders were prevented from proceeding into GB, with his name listed with the Deputy Inspector General of Police. “We, along with friends who had come from the ISF, have been surrounded by police vehicles and expelled from the province,” he added.

In a separate submission, the Secretary General stated that his name along with those with him was given to the authorities so that the group can be barred from entering GB. He added that “the basic relationship between the public and the state, formed on the basis of votes, has been broken.”

Read: PTI cries foul over leaders detained in GB

Further, Raja claimed that the authorities told him and the group that they had been asked to stop the group and ensure that they did not enter GB.

PTI also posted a statement on its official X account, saying that the GB police stopped the leaders at the first checkpoint as soon as they entered Gilgit.

Panjutha, part of that exile group, stated that the PTI was not allowed to campaign, writing that sometimes the party symbol was taken away and other times the authorities were ordered to carry out raids. “Everyone else is allowed to drive cars, but we are not let go,” he said.

The party’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) president Junaid Akbar Khan was arrested by GB Police in Hunza on Friday while campaigning for the upcoming polls. Akbar was visiting various areas in the region as part of PTI’s election campaign when he was detained along with members of the National Assembly Saleemur Rehman and Syed Mehboob Shah.

Akbar said he was told to leave Gilgit because he did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC).

Reacting to Raja’s group being stopped and expelled from the province, Akbar took to X, calling the incident “extremely shameful and reprehensible”. He added, “My question is: If the election is really free and transparent, why the fear of PTI and its leadership?”

“Those who claim to conduct the elections: will the “transparency” of elections be ensured by tying the hands and feet of political opponents, arresting them and expelling them from the province? Has this reign of darkness just been named democracy?” he asked.

Read more: KP CM Afridi writes to UK Chief Justice seeking legal intervention over election issues

Meanwhile, PTI provincial general secretary Ali Asghar Khan stated that “every limit of shamelessness has been crossed.”

Senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser also claimed on May 30 that he had been prevented from reaching Islamabad Airport and missed his flight to Skardu for the election campaign.

“Punjab Police did not allow entry to Islamabad Airport, blocked the airport’s access routes and we, along with the general public, had to face serious hardship,” Qaiser said after the incident. The former Speaker of the National Assembly added that the police kept him in custody until his flight to Skardu departed.

Instances of PTI leaders claiming they have been restricted from campaigning in the UK for the polls came as those from other political parties, such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party, continue their efforts to mobilize voters in the region through rallies and public gatherings.