Tougher action if PTI workers continue violence: IGP

KARACHI: Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar on Tuesday warned PTI activists of tougher action if they continued to resort to violence in their attempt to prevent the police from arresting their leader Imran Khan.

He said the violent protesters would be taken to task and apprehended with the help of CCTV footage as damaging public properties and setting police vehicles on fire came under the terrorism act and these protesters would be tried under that act.

The IGP said Islamabad police under the leadership of DIG Operations ICT Shahzad Bukhari reached Lahore to arrest former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan for compliance with the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by additional sessions judge Zafar iqbal on Tuesday.

The Lahore police were told to accompany the Islamabad police team for compliance with the court orders, he added.

Dr Anwar said that as the police force reached the former prime minister’s house situated in Zaman Park in Lahore, the protesters started pelting stones at the forces, which injured dozens of law enforcers of the Punjab police, including the DIG operations Islamabad.

More personnel of the Punjab police were tasked to reach Zaman Park and help execute the court orders to arrest the PTI chairman, but the party workers attacked the law enforcers with sticks and pelted them with stones, injuring them.

The protesters also set vehicles on fire and damaged public properties with their unlawful acts, he said, adding that the Punjab police were committed to acting upon the lawful court orders and would arrest the PTI chief with the help of the police force.

The IGP said the police were only acting to implement the court orders to arrest Imran Khan under a non-bailable arrest warrant and no police operation was being carried out. If the police failed to fulfil the court orders, then it will raise questions about the supremacy of law in the country, he remarked.

He added that the injured police personnel were being treated at hospitals and violent protesters were being identified for arrest.

The police also requested the parents of the young demonstrators to stop their children from adopting violent means of protesting as it damaged their professional and academic careers, he said. Dr Anwar said the police have acquired an additional force for the implementation of the court orders and they are ready to act with force, but they wish to implement them without any major damage.