An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Sargodha has issued arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Omar Ayub, with the opposition leader claiming he evaded arrest on Sunday.
In a posting on X, the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly confirmed that the warrants had been issued, and slammed “desperate” authorities for trying to arrest him. “Bailable arrest warrants issued for me by ATC Sargodha, but Mianwali Police and Islamabad Police teams went to my Islamabad house to arrest me a few minutes ago,” he claimed.
“The form 47 Federal Government, Punjab Government, and agencies must be very desperate to arrest the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly,” he said, vowing that his party would continue its “struggle” until PTI founder Imran Khan returned to power.
Responding to Ayub’s allegations, Mianwali police said they had not reached his home to arrest him, but rather to serve him the arrest warrants to convince him to join the investigation.
The PTI has been facing a crackdown from the state since the May 9, 2023 riots which saw some of its supporters attacking state assets, including the Lahore Corps Commanders’ House. The PTI maintains the cases against its workers and leaders are “baseless,” but the government has asserted that none of the case fall under political victimization and are based on “anti-state” activities.