Arrest rumours: Ali Amin Gandapur reaches KP after hours-long 'radio silence'

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has reached Peshawar amid his arrest rumours and hours-long "radio silence" in the wake of the crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership over alleged violation of the law in relation to the party's rally in Islamabad, sources told Geo News on Tuesday.

PTI's member National Assembly (MNA) Shahid Khattak has confirmed the development with sources saying that the CM was "busy in various meetings" in the federal capital after the party's power show.

The PTI said that the KP chief minister held a long meeting with government officials over the law and order situation in the province. He couldn't be reached due to mobile phone jammers at the said meeting's location, the party added.

The update comes after the Imran Khan-founded party had raised concerns about the possible arrest of the province's chief executive as he couldn't be contacted for over eight hours.

A day earlier, KP CM's Adviser on Information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif claimed that the federal government might have taken him into custody as he was not in contact since 6pm Monday.

Expressing his doubts, the PTI leader urged the federal government to inform them about the whereabouts of the missing CM.

Saif's concerns came as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a fresh crackdown against the PTI leadership for violating Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024, and arrested party Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat from outside the Parliament House.

Other party leaders who have been arrested include Zain Qureshi, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Naseem-ur-Rehman, Zubair Khan, Shoaib Shaheen and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza

Police have filed cases against several leaders of the Imran-founded party under the newly-enacted law, at the Noon Village and Sangjani police stations.

At least 28 local leaders including Seemabia Tahir and Raja Basharat were also nominated in the cases.

The first information report (FIR) stated that charged PTI workers attacked police teams with batons and pelted them with stones when officers tried to stop them from violating the Islamabad rally's route.

'Will hold rally in Lahore if directed by PTI founder'

Speaking on Geo News' programme 'Geo Pakistan', Barrister Saif said that contact with the KP CM was established late in the night but detailed discussions couldn't be held.

Expressing his views on the crackdown against the party, he said that while their rally was scheduled for September 8, the party's leadership was subjected to arrests from September 7.

Some of our workers from Punjab arrived at night and were hiding to avoid arrests, he noted.

"Punjab and the federal government had started an operation 24 hours ago to thwart the rally," Saif remarked.

Responding to allegations that the former ruling party had violated the law and the conditions under which they were allowed to hold the rally, he said that the administration took all the steps to ensure that the no objection certificate (NOC) could not be implemented.

Stressing that the PTI's struggle was a democratic one, he said that there would be political gatherings, meetings, processions and demonstrations.

Saif revealed that the party will hold a meeting in Lahore the day PTI founder directs them.

"They [government] will be responsible for the deterioration of the situation if they don't allow us to exercise our constitutional and democratic right [to hold rallies]," he added.

Commenting on the criticism being faced by Gandapur over his remarks against women and journalists in the Islamabad rally speech, the chief minister's adviser said the CM shouldn't have made such a speech.

"PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar has already apologised [over it]," he said while referring to the party leadership's "unconditional apology" over the matter that has drawn journalists' ire.

"People learn from experience [....] If democratic rights are not given, then the speeches in the meetings are done in an emotional manner. A leader does not bring out the emotions, workers themselves are emotionally charged," he added.

Acknowledging that some words used in the speech were offensive, he said that even if objectionable words have been spoken, there are rules for that.

"There are defamation laws and other laws to take action under. Don't start grabbing MNAs [members of the National Assembly] as soon as the Parliament session is over, " he said.

Admitting that the speech made during the Islamabad rally contributed towards an atmosphere of bitterness, the KP government official said that the matter was being exaggerated as if there had been an attempt to attack the integrity of the country.

"We don't want to worsen things, we want them to improve," he remarked.