LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan marked May 25 as ‘our descent into fascism’. Referring to the PTI’s Azadi (freedom) March in 2022, he tweeted on Thursday, “Last year on May 25 commenced our descent into fascism.

While three long marches by PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) during the three and a half years of the PTI government were allowed without hindrance, we faced the full force of state terror.

Houses (of the PTI leaders and workers) were broken in the middle of the night. Subsequently, the PTI office-bearers and workers were kidnapped,” he said, adding those who managed to reach Islamabad faced tear gas, rubber bullets and police brutality.

“Some of us thought it was a one-off (incident), but that was just the beginning. Today, the largest and the only federal party was facing the full fury of state power without any accountability. Over 10,000 PTI workers and supporters were in jail, including senior leadership, and some were facing custodial torture,” he said.

According to him, on the pretext of attacking the Lahore Corps Commander House on May 9, which was condemned by the entire PTI leadership, the state was trying to dismantle the party, including ‘forced divorces’ and trying PTI members in military courts.

“All those in the PDM and the journalist community who were cheerleaders for this ‘Yazeediyat’ should know that this was not dismantling of the PTI but our democracy, in other words, our freedom,” he added. “However,” he said, “this attempt to enslave us would fail, as we have a politically aware young population who, despite the media being muzzled, gets its information from social media.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023