PTI stages protest demo against disappearance of social media activists

The Karachi chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday staged a protest against the disappearance of PTI social media workers at the Karachi Press Club.

A large number of party workers and leaders participated in the protest. They chanted slogans against the enforced disappearance of several workers and demanded their safe recovery.

Addressing the protesters, Karachi PTI President Aftab Siddiqui, who led the demonstration, said that if PTI social media volunteers had tweeted anything wrong, the law enforcers could register cases against them, but no law allowed the LEAs to abduct them from their homes. He said the voice of the people could not be suppressed.

Talking about the current political situation, former Sindh governor and PTI leader Imran Ismail said that the PTI was standing with the Supreme Court. “If we do not stand with the judiciary today, the country would be unbridled.”

Ismail said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government wanted to make the people stand up to the forces of Pakistan. The government cannot suppress the voice of truth, he added.

He said his party expressed solidarity with the judiciary. Maryam Nawaz tried to divide the judges and her party also attacked the judiciary in the past, Ismail alleged, adding that the government wanted to make a new bench “headed by Maryam Nawaz”. “We will get rid of this fake government soon.”

Sindh Assembly parliamentary leader Khurram Sher Zaman said the government was trying to intimidate the chief justice. “The entire nation stands with the judiciary and Imran Khan. The PTI will not leave the judiciary alone.”

He said Khan’s goal was to move Pakistan forward. The impression is being given that the youth of social media are running a campaign against the state, he said, adding that none of PTI workers would say anything against the state and this nation had stood up to save Pakistan.

If any of PTI workers had committed a mistake, he said, they should be arrested, but their abduction and enforced disappearance were unacceptable. “I am the brother of a martyr and have always supported my army.”

Addressing the protesters, Karachi PTI General Secretary Arslan Taj said middle class youths had been forcibly disappeared in the country, and the party had no idea where the PTI’s missing workers were.

He said Rana Sanaullah believed that social media is controlled by buttons, but social media is a forum for freedom of expression; it does not spare even journalists, as innumerable journalists have been proved wrong by common people.