Asad Qaiser alleges Islamabad ‘no-go’ area for Pakhtuns

PESHAWAR: A senior leader of PTI Asad Qaiser on Wednesday accused the Islamabad and Punjab police of cracking down on Pakhtuns.

“The federal government opened fire on citizens [in Islamabad] as an act of terror. The shelling was unprecedented. Islamabad has been turned into a no-go area for the Pakhtuns,” said the PTI leader who has served as speaker of the KP Assembly and National Assembly in the past while talking to reporters outside the PHC after securing the protective bail. Asad Qaiser said the PTI protest was not over yet. “All the political parties should rise against this illegal government as it is their responsibility,” he said. The PTI leader said what happened on November 26 in Islamabad was condemnable. “The Constitution gives every citizen the right to protest. The crackdown in the federal capital [against the PTI workers] was a conspiracy against the country,” he said. Asad Qaiser warned the government officials not to, what he said was, cross legal limits. “Let me tell them don’t cross your legal limits. Our protest has not ended,” he said and added that securing the release of our arrested party workers was a priority. He said the PTI leaders would show to the world that there was a martial law-like situation in Pakistan. “We have been subjected to repression and will go to any length to highlight it,” said the PTI leader. Senator Shibli Faraz said the PTI leaders and workers did not expect that they would face firing in the federal capital. He said 12 party workers lost their lives in the firing in Islamabad. “More details are being collected,” said the PTI leader from Kohat. Another PTI leader, Sartaj Gul, complained that she had been charged with stealing a motorcycle, footwear and blanket by registering first information reports against her in Punjab. She alleged that people were killed in the firing in Islamabad and the bodies of the victims were whisked away.