Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan warned that the coalition government and the state machinery were launching “an unprecedented crackdown campaign” against media houses and journalists propagating his party’s narrative to the public.

“If we allow these terror tactics, designed simply to target PTI and me, to succeed, then we will be returning to the dark days of dictatorship when there was no independent media and no room for freedom of expression,” the PTI chief said in a series of tweets on Sunday.

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Khan said that two journalists Arshad Sharif and Sabir Shakir had to leave Pakistan fearing for their lives, adding that other journalists “like Imran Riaz, Sami Ibrahim, and Ayaz Amir suffered threats, violent attacks, and arrests.”

“Haqeeqi Azadi cannot be achieved without a free media & freedom of speech as guaranteed in our Constitution,” said the former premier.