Police arrested the acting chairman and the information secretary of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday, escalating the crackdown on jailed former prime minister Imran Khan ’s party.
Mr Khan’s lawyer Ali Ijaz Buttar said Gohar Ali Khan and Raoof Hassan were “arrested by Islamabad police” from the party’s office.
“I just received a call from the party’s office informing that 300 to 400 policemen arrived and arrested PTI chairman Barrister Gohar and information secretary Raoof Hasan,” Mr Buttar wrote on X.
The acting chairman was later released, the party said.
The party’s international media coordinator, Ahmed Waqas Janjua, was abducted from his home early on Saturday.
CCTV footage released by the party appeared to show Mr Janjua being taken into custody at around 4am.
The party denounced the arrests of its senior members as a mockery of the law and shared footage of police at its office.
Senior PTI member Khurram Sher Zaman claimed that police confiscated documents and equipment and locked staff in a room.
Fellow party members Asad Qaiser and Fawad Chaudhry said many PTI members had been arrested and warned that such actions would deepen political instability in the country, Dawn reported.
“It’s absolutely shameful how Islamabad police continues to completely mock and disregard every law in this country,” the party said on X. “Law of the jungle is reigning over Pakistan!”
Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were recently acquitted of unlawful marriage charges but the former prime minister was quickly arrested in three other cases. The PTI said this was “yet another gimmick” to keep him in prison.
Mr Khan has been granted bail or acquitted in many of the nearly 100 criminal cases filed against him since he was removed from office in 2022.
He says the charges are politically motivated and denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Khan, 71, was imprisoned in August 2023. He was also banned from seeking political office and contesting the national election early this year, which his party says was rigged.
In the 8 February election, candidates loyal to Mr Khan secured the most seats in the parliament but they were prevented from taking power by an alliance of rival parties, led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and supported by the country’s powerful military.
Last week, Pakistan’s government announced that it was set to ban Mr Khan’s political party.
At a press conference in Islamabad, information minister Attaullah Tarar said that the proposal to ban PTI would be deliberated in the cabinet. He also mentioned that the government would take the matter to the supreme court if needed to enforce the ban.
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