\u201cWe don\u2019t want to worsen things, we want them to improve,\u201d says KP CM Adviser Barrister Saif
\n Peshawar
\nKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has reached Peshawar after being \u201cmissing\u201d for hours in the wake of the crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership over alleged violation of law in relation to the party\u2019s rally in Islamabad, sources told Geo News on Tuesday.
\nThe development was confirmed by PTI\u2019s member National Assembly (MNA) Shahid Khattak with sources saying that the CM was \u201cbusy in various meetings\u201d in the federal capital after the party\u2019s power show.
\nThe former ruling party maintained that Gandapur held a long meeting with government officials over the law and order situation in the province and that he couldn\u2019t be reached due to mobile phone jammers at the location of the said meeting.
\nThe update comes after the Imran Khan-founded party had raised concerns about the possible arrest of the province\u2019s chief executive as he couldn\u2019t be contacted for over eight hours.
\nA day earlier, KP CM\u2019s Adviser on Information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif claimed that the federal government might have taken him into custody as he was not in contact since 6pm Monday.
\nExpressing his doubts, the PTI leader urged the federal government to inform them about the whereabouts of the missing CM.
\nSaif\u2019s concerns came as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a fresh crackdown against the PTI leadership for violating Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024, and arrested party Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat from outside the Parliament House.
\nOther party leaders who have been arrested include Zain Qureshi, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Naseem-ur-Rehman, Zubair Khan, Shoaib Shaheen and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza
\nPolice have filed cases against several leaders of the Imran-founded party under the newly-enacted law, at the Noon Village and Sangjani police stations.
\nAt least 28 local leaders including Seemabia Tahir and Raja Basharat were also nominated in the cases.
\nThe first information report (FIR) stated that charged PTI workers attacked police teams with batons and pelted them with stones when officers tried to stop them from violating the Islamabad rally\u2019s route.<\/p>\n
\u2018Political rallies part of democratic struggle\u2019
\nSpeaking on Geo News\u2019 programme \u2018Geo Pakistan\u2019, Barrister Saif said that contact with the KP CM was established late in the night but detailed discussions couldn\u2019t be held.
\nExpressing his views on the crackdown against the party, he said that while their rally was scheduled for September 8, the party\u2019s leadership was subjected to arrests from September 7.
\nSome of our workers from Punjab arrived at night and were hiding to avoid arrests, he noted.
\n\u201cPunjab and the federal government had started an operation 24 hours ago to thwart the rally,\u201d Saif remarked.
\nResponding to allegations that the former ruling party had violated the law and the conditions under which they were allowed to hold the rally, he said that the administration took all the steps to ensure that the no objection certificate (NOC) could not be implemented.
\nStressing that the PTI\u2019s struggle was a democratic one, he said that there would be political gatherings, meetings, processions and demonstrations.
\nSaif revealed that the party will hold a meeting in Lahore the day PTI founder directs them.
\n\u201cThey [government] will be responsible for the deterioration of the situation if they don\u2019t allow us to exercise our constitutional and democratic right [to hold rallies],\u201d he added.
\nCommenting on the criticism being faced by Gandapur over his remarks against women and journalists in the Islamabad rally speech, the chief minister\u2019s adviser said the CM shouldn\u2019t have made such a speech.
\n\u201cPTI Chairman Barrister Gohar has already apologised [over it],\u201d he said while referring to the party leadership\u2019s \u201cunconditional apology\u201d over the matter that has drawn journalists\u2019 ire.
\n\u201cPeople learn from experience [….] If democratic rights are not given, then the speeches in the meetings are done in an emotional manner. A leader does not bring out the emotions, workers themselves are emotionally charged,\u201d he added.
\nAcknowledging that some words used in the speech were offensive, he said that even if objectionable words have been spoken, there are rules for that.
\n\u201cThere are defamation laws and other laws to take action under. Don\u2019t start grabbing MNAs [members of the National Assembly] as soon as the Parliament session is over, \u201c he said.
\nAdmitting that the speech made during the Islamabad rally contributed towards an atmosphere of bitterness, the KP government official said that the matter was being exaggerated as if there had been an attempt to attack the integrity of the country.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to worsen things, we want them to improve,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to worsen things, we want them to improve,\u201d says KP CM Adviser Barrister Saif Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has reached Peshawar after being \u201cmissing\u201d for hours in the wake of the crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership over alleged violation of law in relation to the party\u2019s rally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-430406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n