Pakistani police have arrested more than 120 activists of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in overnight raids, ahead of planned nationwide protests marking the second anniversary of Khan’s imprisonment.
Security officials confirmed on Tuesday that most arrests were carried out in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, where PTI had announced it would hold its largest demonstration. PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari, however, claimed the number of detained supporters in Lahore alone had reached at least 200. Despite the crackdown, the party insisted that the protests would proceed as planned.
Lahore, a political stronghold and Pakistan’s most populous city, has remained at the center of PTI’s support base. The Punjab provincial government and police did not respond to media inquiries about the arrests, though authorities on Monday stated that heavy police deployments were in place across major cities in the province.
At a press conference, Punjab government spokesperson Uzma Bukhari accused PTI of attempting to disrupt public order, stating, “No political party can be barred from politics in Pakistan, but a terrorist organisation disguised as a political party is not allowed to disrupt Pakistan’s peace.”
In a message posted on PTI’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, attributed to Imran Khan, the jailed leader urged supporters to “come out and hold peaceful protests until a true democracy is restored in the country.”
Khan, a former cricket star-turned-politician, served as prime minister from 2018 until his ousting in 2022 after a fallout with the military. His arrest in May 2023 triggered mass protests, which were met with a severe crackdown. Since then, thousands of PTI supporters have faced arrests, and several have been convicted in connection with the 2023 unrest.
Khan faces numerous legal cases, which he claims are politically motivated. He was convicted in a corruption case in January 2025 but has been acquitted or handed suspended sentences in other charges. Despite these legal challenges, PTI emerged as the single largest party in the 2024 general election, though it alleges widespread rigging denied it a parliamentary majority.
The current government, formed by a coalition of rival parties under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has rejected accusations of electoral fraud and maintains that the transition of power followed democratic procedures.
As tensions rise, the PTI protest movement is once again testing Pakistan’s fragile democratic framework and civil-military balance.
Written By Rodney Mbua
