Police in Islamabad on Monday arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Raoof Hasan from the party’s central secretariat in the federal capital, claiming it was done on the basis of evidence.
“The PTI digital media center had become a center of international disinformation, from where anti-Pakistan propaganda is run throughout the world,” claimed police in a statement, adding all those “directly” involved in anti-national propaganda were arrested and evidence taken into custody from the party’s digital media cell .
Slamming the arrest, the PTI issued a statement decrying as “absolutely shameful” the police action. “Law of the jungle is reigning over Pakistan!” it said in a posting on X, formerly Twitter. It claimed police had confiscated a PC and some other equipment from the central secretariat. It also shared a video showing several police vehicles and some police officials standing outside its secretariat.
Initial reports had suggested PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan was also taken into custody, but the lawyer rejected these claims, telling media he was not taken into custody. He said he had accompanied Hasan to Police Line, but police had directed him to leave after informing him he was not wanted in any case.
Condemning the raid at the PTI’s central secretariat, party leader Khurrum Sher Zaman accused the government of directing the police to arrest Hasan. “We’ve been informed that they’ve locked staff in a room and waiting for prison van to arrive and have taken computers and important documents,” he claimed on X, though police denied this.
Adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information Muhammad Ali Saif, meanwhile, claimed the arrest “proved” the government was on its last legs. “The struggle for true democracy and to ensure the rule of law will continue,” he claimed.
In Lahore, opposition lawmakers of the Punjab Assembly staged a demonstration demanding the release of Hasan and any workers taken into police custody.