Gujranwala: As many as 70 workers and supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) courted arrest in Gujranwala on Sunday.
PTI leader Yasmin Rashid said that six prison vans boarded with PTI workers have departed for jail so far.
She said that the police were facing a shortage of prison vans to shift the PTI workers to the jail.
She added that the local police barred female workers of the party from boarding the prison van.
The PTI leader paid rich tribute to the people for taking to the street on the call of former prime minister Imran Khan.
Besides others, Chaudhry Ilyas Gujjar, his nephew and Qamar Abbas Tarrar have courted arrest, said Rashid.
Sharing a photo of former MPA Zafarullah Cheema and Nazar Muhammad Gondal in handcuffs on Twitter, the PTI leaders said that they were the first who voluntarily surrendered to the police in the city.
#جیل_بھرو__زندان_بھرو تحریک میں آج گوجرانوالہ سے 150 سے زیادہ لوگوں نے گرفتاری دی ہے اس کے بعد تحریک انصاف کے گرفتار کارکنان کی تعداد تین سو پچاس سے تجاوز کر گئ ہے، قوم ان ہیروں کو سلام پیش کرتی ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 26, 2023
Taking to Twitter, senior party leader Fawad Chaudhry wrote: “More than two hundred workers in Lahore and Rawalpindi are currently in various jails and they have refused to submit bail requests.”
The party’s senior leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Azam Swati, alongside other party workers, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Lahore police on the first day of the campaign — and later, some of the others followed suit. The movement subsequently reached Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Multan.
پی ٹی آئی رہنما اور کارکن آج گوجرانوالہ میں گرفتاریاں پیش کریں گے, پشاور اور ملتان میں پولیس نے تحریک انصاف کے کارکنان کو گرفتار کرنے سے انکار کر دیا لاہور اور راولپنڈی کے دو سو سے زیادہ کارکنان اس وقت مختلف جیلوں میں ہیں ان لوگوں نے ضمانت کی درخواستوں سے انکار کیا ہے، #جیل_بھرو
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 26, 2023
A day earlier, PTI Chairman Imran Khan strongly condemned the “fascist approach” of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government for treating his party’s workers and leaders detained during the “Jail Bharo Tehreek” like terrorists.
Strongly condemn the fascist approach of Imported govt to treat our political prisoners detained during our Jail Bharo (court arrest) movement as criminals & terrorists. Our ldrship & workers are protesting against this fascism, violation of fundamental rights, & crushing nation
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 25, 2023
In his tweet, Khan claimed that his party’s leadership and workers are protesting against fascism, the violation of fundamental rights, and the crushing of the nation.
