In a series of tweets, PTI Chairman Khan said that a five-member Supreme Court bench ordered elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and asked President Arif Alvi to announce the date of the polls, “which he does – 30 April”. He said that with hardly 55 days left, PTI kicks off the election rally in Lahore. “Under what law, [and] in brazen contempt of SC, Punjab caretaker govt uses massive police violence against unarmed workers to stop our planned rally?” He said that the only job of caretakers is to ensure fair and free elections. “What they are doing is an assault on rule of law, our Constitution & democracy.” “Above all, once SC ruling is defied, it is now law of the jungle.” In a tweet after calling off the rally, Imran said that party worker Ali Bilal was “murdered by Punjab police”.
“Shameful, this brutality on unarmed PTI workers who were coming to attend an election rally. Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals,” he said, adding that the party would file cases against the Punjab inspector general, the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) and others for “murder”. In a second tweet, Imran shared a video of Bilal, adding that it showed that the PTI worker was alive while being transported to the police station. “So he was killed while in police custody – such is the murderous bent of the present regime and the Punjab police,” he said.
Imran later said he wanted the party’s district presidents and office bearers across the country to offer funeral prayers in absentia for “our martyred worker”. Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar vowed that Bilal’s killer would be “brought to justice one day”. “The use of force has now reached such a level that the sons of the nation are being martyred,” he tweeted. Awami Muslim League leader and PTI ally Sheikh Rashid also strongly condemned the alleged murder. “The PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) and Punjab caretaker government have crossed all limits of fascism and cruelty,” he said.
