The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has refused to allow a police party to conduct a search operation of party chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence in the provincial capital as the authorities seek to detain “terrorists” present inside his house.
The Punjab government Wednesday claimed that “30-40 terrorists were hiding inside Khan’s residence” and gave 24 hours to PTI to hand over these miscreants or face action — but even after the passage of 48 hours, no action has been taken.
The government’s negotiation team — after securing search warrants from an anti-terrorism court — was at Zaman Park for more than an hour and discussed the SOPs with the PTI chief and his legal team, but they could not make headway.
Khan, according to people privy to the meetings, has put forth some of his conditions for the search, and the delegation will present them before the interim government.
The authorities also presented the “evidence” before the PTI chief about the terrorists’ — who attacked smashed and set ablaze military installations — presence inside his residence, but he did not budge.
The authorities have begun a crackdown on PTI workers and leaders after they torched public property and defence installations following the arrest of Khan on May 9, which the army dubbed as “Balck Day”.
Iftikhar Rasool Ghumman, an aide of Khan, said his party “satisfied” the government team and informed that “there is nothing” here as claimed by authorities.
“We will welcome the government team whenever they come,” he added.
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Authorities on Friday arrested six more “terrorists” attempting to flee from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence taking the total arrests to 14, claimed Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Saddique Kamyana.
According to CCPO Kamyana four of the alleged “terrorists” were involved in the attack on Askari Tower while two of them were among those who ransacked the Corps Commander House Lahore.
The arrest comes a day after Punjab Caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir shared that eight “terrorists” had been arrested while they were escaping from Lahore’s Zaman Park area.
The detained terrorists were already identified and are allegedly involved in the attack on the Lahore Corps Commander House on May 9, he had said.
Govt’s negotiation team to visit Zaman Park for talks
CCPO Kamyana’s confirmation of the arrests comes hours ahead of a negotiation team headed by Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa is expected to reach Zaman Park today after the Friday prayers.
The team is visiting Zaman Park on the instructions of Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi for talks with PTI.
The government’s team is likely to reach Zaman Park around 2:00pm and will discuss the Zaman Park search operation with PTI representatives, government sources told Geo News.
If both sides agree, 400 police personnel are likely to be part of the search, the sources added.
Ahead of the meeting, the road between Mall Road and Dharmapura in Lahore have been closed off by the police, while all the roads leading to Zaman Park have been cordoned off.
During a meeting today, the caretaker CM ordered that the cases registered against the miscreants must be pursued with full force and that the “fugitive criminals” should be arrested as soon as possible.
Furthermore, during the meeting to review the progress of search of perpetrators involved in the violent protests following Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, several other decisions were made.
Members of the meeting decided on the approval of cash prizes for those identifying the accused persons involved in terrorist incidents.
The participants of the meeting also expressed concerns over the alleged illegal facilitation of those who attacked the office of the Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) office in Faisalabad.
Those accused of being involved in the attack include Ali Afzal Sahi, who is the close relative of a judge, amongst others.
It was also decided in the session that a reference would be sent against a judge for providing extraordinary facilities to terrorists, while the “illegal and unconstitutional facilitation” of those accused of the violence will also be challenged.
“Facilitation of the suspects is equivalent to murder of justice,” the meeting decided.
The development comes a day after Punjab Caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir said that law enforcers will conduct a search operation at PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Lahore residence after his permission and in front of cameras to apprehend “terrorists”.
“We [the interim government] have decided that instead of a head-on collision, we will send a delegation to Khan sahab under the supervision of the Lahore commissioner,” Mir told Geo News’ Shahzeb Khanzada.
Mir during the show also shared that interim CM Naqvi had conducted a meeting yesterday, in which it was decided that a delegation would take an appointment from Khan’s team and meet him after Friday prayers today.
“They will ask him [Khan] to allow them to conduct a search operation. A police party — comprising 400 personnel — will accompany the delegation as there is a reported presence of terrorists,” he said.
Khan yesterday asked law enforcers to conduct a search operation at his residence but noted that they should carry valid search warrants with them.
“If he does not permit the delegation to conduct the search, then we will decide our strategy, but for now, we will want things to be conducted in a positive manner,” the minister added.
