Shafaqna Pakistan: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, along with PTI founder Imran Khan’s legal affairs spokesperson Naeem Panjutha and MPA Shaukat Basra, was reportedly prevented from entering Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday while travelling to participate in the final stage of election campaigning ahead of the June 7 polls.
In a post on X, Raja claimed that PTI leaders were stopped from entering the region and that his name had been placed on a list held by the deputy superintendent of police. He alleged that he and several supporters, including members of the ISF, were surrounded by police vehicles and escorted out of the province.
In a separate statement on social media, Raja said the names of those accompanying him had also been provided to authorities to prevent their entry into Gilgit-Baltistan. He further alleged that the fundamental relationship between citizens and the state, based on the democratic process and the right to vote, had been undermined.
Further, Raja claimed that the authorities told him and the group that they had been directed to stop the group and ensure they did not enter G-B.
The PTI also posted a statement on its official X account, saying that G-B police stopped the leaders at the first checkpoint as soon as they entered Gilgit.
Panjutha, part of the exiled group, stated that the PTI was not being allowed to campaign, writing that sometimes the party symbol was taken away and other times, the authorities were ordered to conduct raids. “Everyone else is being allowed vehicles, but we’re not being let go,” he said.
The party’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) president, Junaid Akbar Khan, was arrested by G-B Police at Hunza on Friday while campaigning for the upcoming polls. Akbar was visiting various areas of the region as part of PTI’s election campaign when he was detained along with Members of the National Assembly Saleemur Rehman and Syed Mehboob Shah.
Akbar said he was told to leave Gilgit because he did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC).
Reacting to Raja’s group being stopped and expelled from the province, Akbar took to X, terming the incident as “extremely shameful and condemnable”. He added, “My question is: if the elections are truly free and transparent, then why such fear of PTI and its leadership?”
Source: Express Tribune
