PTI to tap all resources for Raoof Hasan's early release: Gohar

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Gohar Ali Khan on Monday condemned the arrest of the party's Information Secretary Raoof Hasan and the seizure of party records from its main office, vowing to fight for the early release of his colleague.

Addressing a press conference along with the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub and former NA speaker Asad Qaiser on Monday at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House Islamabad, he said that the government was doing all this to weaken a political party. He said that the party would tap into all resources possible for Raoof Hasan's early release.

Islamabad Police arrested PTI's Information Secretary Raoof Hasan from the party's Central Secretariat on Monday for allegedly running a digital media cell engaged in propaganda against Pakistan and its integrity.

"The PTI's digital media cell has become a centre for [spreading] international disinformation, from where anti-Pakistan propaganda is disseminated globally," the police said after the raid on the PTI office.

Shortly before the PTI statement, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told a press conference in Rawalpindi, "It is time for the nation to stand up against militants and digital terrorists."

"Digital terrorism is being done on social media. The army is standing up against terrorists and digital terrorists. The time has come for the entire nation to stand up against them," the DG ISPR said without naming any entity.

Condemning Hasan's arrest, the PTI chairman said the party would fight for him and added that the police had seized all records from the party's main office. He stated that the party would leave no resource untapped to get Hasan released at the earliest.

The PTI chief hoped that the court would set him free as there were no cases against him. "We haven't been briefed about the FIR (first information report) so far," he said.

The government had said it would take parliament into confidence over the plan to launch a military operation, the Azm-e-Istehkam operation, against terrorism, Gohar said adding that the briefing never took place however.

He said that several PTI lawmakers had been picked up ever since the Supreme Court announced its short order in the reserved seats' case, adding that, the apex court's ruling would be implemented.

The PTI's central secretariat was sealed before noon on Monday and police took away all the affidavits of the PTI's MNAs and MPAs regarding their affiliation with the party, Gohar said.

The PTI chief said that he had stayed with Hasan for a while after the latter's arrest because the PTI information secretary was unwell; however, the police asked him to leave as there was no case against him.

During the presser, Ayub termed Hasan's arrest as an act of desperation on the government's part after the SC's reserved seats' ruling. Today's police raid was meant to snatch the affidavits of the PTI's MNAs and MPAs, he said.