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Pakistan's Punjab police in a province-wide crackdown arrested hundreds of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers, claiming to have averted chaos and violence, reported Dawn.
Various PTI workers took to their social media accounts and shared videos of the police raids on their houses and in those clips, the homes were surrounded by a team of police. Punjab province police raided various houses of PTI office-bearers. PTI chief Imran Khan claimed that 1,600 workers were nabbed while Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed 1,800 arrests. He claimed that hundreds of others [besides PTI workers] were also detained by the police. "An old man standing at a tandoor to buy rotis was also picked up as a PTI worker and was detained in a lock-up with me," he said. Even, a team conducted a raid on a PTI senior leader - a candidate from PP-158 - Mehtab Hussain's residence in Lahore but he was not present, according to Dawn. In Multan, the police arrested the son of former MPA Javed Akhtar Ansari in a raid and took PTI workers into custody across the district. The police have arrested over 50 PTI workers from different areas of Rahim Yar Khan, while 26 workers were arrested in Multan. The residence of Arslan Butt - a former staff officer of Shahbaz Gill - was also raided by the police in Burewala but he was not present at his home, reported The Nation. Moreover, police teams also arrested several PTI workers during raids in other cities including Mian Channu, Lodhran, Vehari and Faisalabad. The PTI claimed that many workers have also been detained from Lodhran and Bhakkar, Vehari and Faisalabad, reported The Nation. This all happened prior to the 6th jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan, called on by Khan to "assert their right as people of a free nation" by attending the rally. Taking to Twitter, Khan said, "Tonight will be our 6th jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan & my heart tells me it will break all records. I am inviting everyone in Lahore to attend after the Tarawih prayers. I will give my vision of Haqeeqi Azadi & how we will pull Pak out of the mess cabal of crooks have put our country in." In Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan, PTI Chief presented his party's roadmap to revamp governance and increase exports thus paving the way for the country's economic prosperity, Pakistan based The Express Tribune newspaper reported. Khan said that the country needs difficult decisions to be made to revamp governance and increase exports. Khan during his speech pointed out that Pakistan doesn't collect sufficient taxes, resulting in an outflow of dollars that exceeds the inflow. He said that if exports increase, the inflow of dollars would also increase. He also urged the need for a complete revamp of governance to achieve economic prosperity, according to The Express Tribune newspaper. (ANI)
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