On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Punjab Police arrested several senior leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. The leaders, including Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, and Aliya Hamza Malik, had arrived to meet PTI founder Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned for over a year.
PTI and SIC members, now represented under SIC’s banner in parliament, were reportedly planning to discuss upcoming protests and party strategies. While Aliya Hamza Malik avoided arrest by standing at a distance, Omar Ayub, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, stressed that the meeting had court approval. Police, however, cited violations of Section 144, imposed in Rawalpindi to curb gatherings ahead of anticipated PTI rallies, as the reason for the arrests.
PTI has condemned the arrests, calling them “unjust” and “illegal,” asserting that the leaders were simply exercising their legal right to meet Khan. In a statement, PTI demanded the immediate release of its detained leaders, highlighting the ongoing legal pressures and repeated arrests faced by party members in recent months.
