Punjab authorities denied PTI permission for an August 5 rally in Lahore to mark Imran Khan’s jailing. The party says it will go to court and launch a wider protest campaign until his release.

Pakistan’s Punjab government has denied permission to former prime minister Imran Khan’s party to hold a rally in Lahore on August 5 to mark three years of his imprisonment. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said on Saturday that it would move court after the Lahore administration did not respond to its request.

At a press conference, PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja said the party would go ahead with its plans and also announced a protest movement from August 5 that would continue till Khan’s release. Party leaders also expressed solidarity with the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where they said recent violence linked to protests over 12 refugee seats had left more than 100 people dead.

Raja said, “The Lahore deputy commissioner has not responded to our request for permission to hold a peaceful gathering. It amounts to rejection of our plea.” He said the party had applied for permission to hold the rally on August 5 and added, “Since the government is not ready to give us permission, we will go to court and will hold a rally in Lahore on August 5.” He also alleged that Khan was being held in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers and family.

Raja and other PTI leaders referred to the unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and said, “These sacrifices will not go in vain.” There are 53 seats in the so-called legislative assembly of PoK, of which 45 are directly elected and eight are reserved for women, technocrats and clerics. Of the 53 seats, 12 are reserved for refugees who settled in PoK after 1947. Elections for 45 contesting seats of the assembly are scheduled to be held in three phases from Monday to August 10.

Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician, was arrested on August 5, 2023, after an Islamabad trial court found him guilty of corrupt practices in the Tosha Khana case. He has remained in jail since then because of subsequent convictions and multiple other pending cases. Every week, Khan’s sisters, lawyers and some party workers gather outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to press the government to allow the family to meet him.

A Punjab government official said the province had taken a principled stand not to allow Khan’s party to hold any kind of protest because its workers take the law into their hands. With permission denied, PTI has said it will approach the court and press ahead with its August 5 rally and wider protest campaign.

With PTI Inputs