Karachi:Pasban e Pakistan Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday said that arrest of political leaders and workers is an undemocratic step of the sitting government and it should better not put hurdles in way of the Azadi March of Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman.
In a statement here, he said peaceful protest is a constitutional right of opposition and stopping it is tantamount to stopping democratic process. He said arrests and harassment of political workers is itself an illegal act and highly regrettable. He said the sitting Prime Minister Imran Khan should not forget that he himself had paralyzed the federal and provincial capitals for quite a long time with his protests and sit-ins. He said it is strange that the PTI government is now opposing sit-ins and rallies, despite the fact that it itself came to the corridors of power with the help of such rallies and sit-ins.
Altaf Shakoor said if such protests and sit-ins were right when PTI was indulged in them then why they are wrong today. He said why the government is arresting political workers and why Islamabad has become a city of containers. He said taking to streets peacefully and criticizing sitting government is a part of democratic process and putting hurdles in way of the democratic process is regrettable. He strongly condemns arrests of opposition leaders and workers and demanded to release them immediately. He said the government and opposition should cooperate with one another so that peace could be maintained during the protest process and democracy in Pakistan is not derailed.