LAHORE: A government’s negotiation team headed by Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Ali Randhawa will reach Zaman Park today (Friday) after the Friday prayers for negotiations with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leadership in connection with the search operation to arrest the “terrorist” holed up in PTI chief’s residence.
The team will reach Zaman Park around 2 pm and discuss the search operation with PTI representatives. If both sides agree, 400 police personnel will head to the PTI chief’s residence. Ahead of the meeting, the road connecting Mall Road and Dharmapura in Lahore has been closed off by the police for general public, while all the roads leading to Zaman Park have been cordoned off.
During a meeting earlier in the day, the caretaker CM ordered that the cases lodged against the miscreants must be pursued and that the “fugitive criminals” should be arrested at the earliest. The development comes a day after Punjab Caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir said that law-enforcers will conduct a search operation at PTI chief Imran Khan’s residence after his permission and in front of cameras to apprehend “terrorists”.
Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan has said that fascist tactics being used to oppress PTI workers, supporters under guise of identifying arsonists. In a tweet on Friday, he said, “More evidence of State brutality is emerging. Under the garb of identifying arsonists, fascist tactics have been employed by these criminals in power to silence & oppress PTI workers & supporters”. He further said that even women and children were not spared in what he called a planned campaign to spread fear and terror.
