Umar Ayub says he was tortured during ‘march’

GHAZI: Former minister Umar Ayub Khan has accused the Punjab Police of torturing him during the ‘Azadi March’ near Burhan Bridge on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on Thursday.

Talking to The News via phone from a private hospital in Islamabad, he said that he along with the procession of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers left for Islamabad from Haripur to join the Azadi March.

He said when they reached Burhan Bridge on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway, they saw that the Punjab Police had blocked the bridge and were not allowing the PTI workers to proceed to Islamabad.

The ex-minister alleged that the police started beating him and the PTI workers when they were removing the hurdles erected on the bridge to open the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway for the rally from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led by ex-premier Imran Khan and other party leaders.

He said that the police severely tortured him and the PTI workers. Umar Ayub vowed that the government’s hurdles and harassment tactics cannot stop them from their mission.

Meanwhile, the party leaders have condemned the torture on the ex-minister.