File photo of PTI chief Imran Khan
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reportedly started preparing lists of workers willing to voluntarily surrender to police for the ‘Jail Bharo’ movement announced by party chief Imran Khan last week.
According to ARY News, the PTI has decided to advance the movement through three phases. In the first phase, central leaders of the party and parliamentarians would surrender themselves to police. This would be followed by the second phase, in which 500 workers from each constituency would voluntarily surrender to police. The final phase would call on the general public and PTI supporters to join the party workers in surrendering themselves for the ‘Jail Bharo’ initiative.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, PTI leader Farrukh Habib on Sunday claimed the party’s workers and leaders were ready to “fill jails” at Khan’s direction. “I will go to jail first,” he said.
However, the ruling coalition has indicated that it would respond firmly to any attempts by Khan and the PTI to agitate, with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah saying the government was ready to take the PTI chief into custody as soon he launched his mass arrest movement. Criticizing the PTI for “creating trouble,” he said the party had a history of endangering the country’s progress at critical junctures.
“In 2014, the PTI staged protest demonstrations and tried to stop the journey of progress and prosperity. Imran Khan is following the politics of agitation in the shape of long marches, sealing Islamabad on the pretext of a date for elections,” he said, adding that he hoped that Khan would be placed in the same cell he had been when he was arrested by the PTI-led government.
The PTI chairman last week announced that his party would soon launch a ‘jail bharo’ movement, maintaining that this would yield better results than agitating on the streets. Asking his supporters to prepare and wait for his call to launch the movement for voluntary arrests, he claimed this would send a “strong message” to the government about whose side the public was on.
This isn’t the first time that Khan has advocated a voluntary arrest movement. In October 2022, he had made a similar announcement in a bid to trigger fresh elections, but had never followed through on it.