Achakzai accuses government of resorting to ‘vindictive measures even against women and children’
ISLAMABAD:
Senior leaders of Tehreek Tahaffuz Aeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) on Wednesday deplored the alleged ill-treatment of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters outside Adiala jail and expressed full solidarity with them.
Addressing a joint press conference after meeting them at Bani Gala, the opposition alliance expressed serious concerns about the country’s political climate, the future of democracy and “repeated violations of constitutional boundaries”.
PTI leaders including Salman Akram Raja and Shahid Khattak were also present as well as the former prime minister’s sisters.
Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWM) Central Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri termed the alleged attack on PTI founder’s sisters outside Adiala jail “tragic and inhumane”.
He was concerned that the prevailing political situation had put not only the masses but also the “guardians of the Constitution” in a state of deep anxiety.
“The person who founded Pakistan would be ashamed of the situation today,” invoked the country’s founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Referring to the 27th Amendment, he warned that constitutional adjustments pushed in the hasty manner risked weakening the fabric of the state, adding that TTAP had “serious reservations” about the ongoing changes.
Similarly, the movement’s chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai accused the government of resorting to “vindictive measures even against women and children”, saying they were unprecedented and shameful.
He also deplored the “undemocratic and clear violations of human rights”. “It was because of the mindset of the elite that East Pakistan was broken and today the same attitudes are again pushing the state towards harm.”
Achakzai stressed that the country’s crisis could only be resolved if all political forces took a common and principled stand.
He announced that if all parties agreed on five basic points, he would personally secure Imran Khan’s formal signatures on them.
‘Not scared’
The PTI founder’s sisters – Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan – also addressed the press conference and condemned the alleged violence against women, asserting that they would not be intimidated.
They thanked the TTAP leadership and said that the support of Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas Jafri had given them strength in an exceptionally difficult time.
Continuing Imran’s message, the sisters stated that Imran has called on the nation to “prepare” because the time has come for “freedom or death” as they accused the authorities of placing him in solitary confinement and subjecting women, children and lawmakers to violent treatment outside Adiala prison.
They further said that they had long avoided speaking in public, but the situation had reached a point where silence was no longer possible.
Aleema said they were only exercising their legal right to demand a meeting with their brother, but “the PTI founder has been put in solitary confinement” and even peaceful protests were met with force.
She said their demonstrations had never harmed anyone, yet they were repeatedly denied permission to meet him. “Last week my sister – who is a doctor – was detained for several hours,” she said.
“We sat on the footpath. First the lights were turned off, then water was released. We sat in the water. First media personnel were pushed, then ministers from KP were pushed,” she said, recounting scenes from Tuesday night.
She said a 12-year-old boy who warned them that water would be released “was also arrested”.
She alleged that women had been “dragged by the hair” and “scarves were pulled off”, after which men and women were “locked together in the same prison van”.
“This country is ours too. Why are we being treated like this?” she asked.
