BAHAWALPUR: Police in the districts of Vehari and Multan continued a crackdown on PTI leaders and workers and rounded up a number of them in various districts of south Punjab during raids on their houses.

According to sources in the PTI and law-enforcing agencies (LEAs), in Vehari district, five FIRs were registered against the arrested PTI workers. Twenty workers were arrested and they were being forced to submit their affidavits for their release. The process was going on when this report was filed.

In Vehari’s Miranpur and Mailsi’s Mitroo areas, Noor Muhammad and Muhammad Zawar Arain were arrested as they attempted to organise rallies against the government. At Ghara Mor, police raided and arrested one Muhammad Ismail, who was booked in three cases.

In Multan, the PTI’s lawyers wing alleged that over 100 PTI workers were arrested by various police stations in the city, including Chehlak, Shah Rukn-e-Alam, Daulat Gate, Lohari Gate, Haram Gate, Gulgasht and Sadder, during night-long raids.

The PTI wing added that the number of arrests could be higher because police sources declined to disclose the actual number and names of the arrested persons whose families were being contacted to move the courts for their release.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2024