The political atmosphere has heated up after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial President and Member of National Assembly Junaid Akbar Khan was detained by Gilgit-Baltistan Police at Hanzal and directed to leave the Gilgit limits.
Junaid Akbar Khan was on an organizational tour of different districts in Gilgit-Baltistan in connection with the party’s election campaign. According to sources, when Junaid Akbar Khan was on a tour of different areas of Gilgit-Baltistan in connection with the election campaign, the police stopped him at Hanzal.
police and administration stopped the PTI provincial president and told him that he did not have a No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the relevant authorities, so he could not continue his political activities in Gilgit-Baltistan due to security and administrative reasons and he should immediately leave the limits of Gilgit.
Reacting strongly to this move of the administration, Junaid Akbar said in a conversation with the media and his close sources”I was told that you do not have a NOC, so you should leave Gilgit. I wonder if Gilgit-Baltistan is not a part of Pakistan? Where a citizen and public representative of his own country is being forced to bring an NOC to come and run a political campaign?”
The news of Junaid Akbar Khan’s alleged arrest and forcible detention spread like wildfire, which has led to a strong response from the PTI leadership and workers. PTI leaders have termed this move as a blatant violation of basic human and constitutional rights and said that no citizen of Pakistan can be stopped from going to any part of the country and participating in peaceful political activities.
PTI Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leadership have alleged that the government is in a panic and is resorting to high-handed tactics and pretexts like “NOC” to stop PTI’s growing public popularity and election campaign.
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