Lahore: Authorities on Thursday swung into action and arrested Azhar Mashwani, the social media head of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), following a malicious campaign against Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), along with intelligence agencies and police, launched a nationwide crackdown on social media activists who are running an online campaign against General Munir. In these, action was taken especially against those associated with Khan’s PTI. More arrests are likely in the coming days in this regard.
In yet another crackdown on PTI political workers, police have so far arrested 740 people, mostly from Lahore and Islamabad where PTI workers and policemen clashed last week in an attempt to arrest Imran Khan in the Toshakhana gift case . In a series of tweets, Khan said, ‘Enough is enough. Police in Punjab and Islamabad are flouting all laws in targeting PTI.
Azhar Mashwani was abducted from Lahore and there is no information about him. Senator Shibli Faraj and Umar Sultan were brutally beaten up by the ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory) police on March 18. He said that ‘more than 740 unarmed PTI workers have been arrested so far from ICT, Lahore and Punjab. . These are poor people, many are daily wage labourers.
PTI leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi tweeted, “Azhar Mashwani has been abducted. Very condemnable behavior of the present government. All this happened because he is with Imran Khan. Notably, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had recently condemned the “hateful campaign” against General Asim Munir.
