ISLAMABAD: In a bid to expose the high-handedness of the government for misusing state machinery against unarmed protesters and party leadership through the registration of fake cases and harassment, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday sought the United Nations intervention.

In a letter written to High Commissioner for Human Rights by PTI leader and former human rights minister Dr Shireen Mazari, the party demanded independent and impartial investigations into these state excesses and human rights violations.

By state excesses, the PTI meant the crackdown by the police ahead of the long march on May 25 and the use of teargas shelling and baton-charge by the police on the day of the march.

Mazari also requested the UN official to take urgent notice of the issues raised in the letter as they not only threatened democracy in Pakistan but also the lives of former prime minister Imran Khan, his party leadership, and intervene on these with the government of Pakistan.

The PTI also asked the UN to intervene to end harassment of the PTI members and save them from politically-motivated cases against them, adding the government must stop censorship of the media as this was a violation of basic democratic norms and of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Pakistan had ratified.

It urged the UN to stop the government of Pakistan from denying the right to peaceful protest through repressive measures.

The letter by Mazari came after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah openly threatened that he would order a massive crackdown on the PTI leadership and workers the day the party announces its next long march onto Islamabad.

The federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also formed a committee to investigate the claims made by the PTI leaders that they carried weapons during the long march on May 25, which the PTI says is nothing but political victimization.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022