Islamabad: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mahmood Khan Achakzai has urged the United Nations and human rights organisations to take notice of the authorities "brutal" treatment against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers during their protest in Islamabad, Dawn reported.
While addressing a press conference, Achakzai alleged that a large number of PTI workers and supporters were killed and hundreds of others were injured due to state violence.
He accused the government of concealing information regarding casualties that occured due to action taken by police and security forces against protesters who had arrived in Islamabad despite roadblocks on the call of PTI founder Imran Khan, according to Dawn report.
Achakzai, who also heads the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Aaian Pakistan, rejected claims made by government about violence by PTI supporters. He called for an independent inquiry into the excessive use of power and demanded accountability for those responsible for it.
PkMAP chief demanded that FIRs should be filed against the government action and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with the interior minister and IGP should be nominated as they were allegedly behind the brutal violence against the peaceful protesters.
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He called cases against cases against Imran Khan "politically motivated." Calling for PTI founder's release, he said, "The cases against Imran Khan are politically motivated, and therefore, he and all other political prisoners should be immediately released," Dawn reported.
During the press conference, Achakzai also spoke on the representative status and role of the Balochistan Assembly which passed a resolution against Imran Khan's party. He stressed that restrictions against political parties did not end politics in the past nor will they do now.
Speaking on the elections held on February 8, he said that the truth regarding polls is well known and one seat was allegedly sold for Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 700 million.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai criticised the institutions that used all their power against political activists. However, they were unable to take any substantial action against criminals and armed gangs who had killed innocent people in Rahrah Sham, Duki, Musakhail and Khurram district.
He also criticised the 26th Amendment and highlighted the role of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) in its passage. He further said that the constitutional framework everyone had agreed to was now being distorted.
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Earlier on Wednesday, Imran Khan's party described Pakistani forces' action against PTI protesters as a "massacre." Imran Khan's party alleged that the government's security forces assaulted the peaceful protesters in Islamabad during their rally.
In a post on X, the PTI said, "A massacre has unfolded in Pakistan at the hands of security forces under the brutal, fascist military regime led by the establishment and PMLN's illegal government. The nation is drowning in blood."
"Today, armed security forces launched a violent assault on peaceful PTI protesters in Islamabad, firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible. Snipers were also used in order to murder many civilians. With countless death and injured, the interior minister's threat to kill and then the declaration of "victory" over slaughtered innocents is enough evidence of the regime's inhumanity," it further said.
The PTI added, "The world must condemn this atrocity and the erosion of democracy and humanity in Pakistan. The international community must take a strong stand against this brutal crackdown."
PTI's protests, demanding the release of its leader Imran Khan, took a violent turn on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of four security personnel and two PTI supporters, Dawn reported. The PTI protests were met with intense tear gas upon reaching Islamabad's D-Chowk following which the clash between protesters and security forces broke out. (with Agency inputs)
