(Lahore) Pakistan is experiencing a repression “never seen in history”, denounced Wednesday evening in an address to the country the former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, while activists and leaders of his party were arrested.
“This is a repression that I have never seen in the history of Pakistan,” said the former head of government, himself arrested a few days earlier this month, addressing Pakistanis in a video.
“If you say you are members of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, his party) then you will face oppression and violence, you will be arrested,” he argued. “If you say the magic words: we are no longer at the PTI, then you will be freed”.
Sympathizers and leaders of his party are persecuted, according to the former Pakistani prime minister. “They put everyone in jail, I don’t know who to contact anymore,” he said from his home in Lahore (east).
The statements come as a senior member of Imran Khan’s party announced on Tuesday that she was quitting politics, after being arrested several times in the wake of protests sparked by the arrest in early May of Mr Khan himself. even.
Mr Khan, 70, was arrested on May 9 in Islamabad in a corruption case, then released on bail three days later. His arrest sparked violent clashes between his supporters and the police, which left at least nine people dead.
Since then, human rights defenders have accused the authorities of harshly repressing supporters and leaders of the PTI.
Shireen Mazari, vice-president of the PTI, explained on Tuesday that she had been subjected to “12 days of arrest, release, kidnapping and release”.
“I decided that I was leaving active politics. From now on, I no longer belong to the PTI or any political party,” she told a brief press conference.
The PTI announced that she had been arrested five times on charges including incitement to violence. More than a dozen senior party officials have been arrested, and eight are still in detention.