Pakistan ex-PM Khan says party officials pressured to quit

Lahore, Pakistan (AFP):

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan said Wednesday that senior leaders were being pressured into resigning from his party amid a crackdown, as a former cabinet minister became the latest to quit.

Rights monitors said authorities have detained thousands of supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party since days of street violence erupted over his brief arrest earlier this month.

Party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry, who served as information minister in Khan’s government, quit the party while general secretary Asad Umar, the former finance minister, said he would step down from his position but remain with PTI.

It came after senior vice-president Shireen Mazari parted ways with Khan on Tuesday.

All three made their announcements after being released from custody on allegations of instigating street violence after Khan’s arrest.

“This is a crackdown that I have never seen in the history of Pakistan before,” Khan said in a video address on Wednesday night.

“If you say that you are part of PTI, then you will face oppression and violence, you will be locked up,” he said.

“If you say the magic words, ‘We are no longer in PTI’, then you will be released.”

Khan claimed the suppression was being targeted at grassroots supporters, as well as officials.

“They have put everyone in jail, I don’t even know who to contact anymore,” he said from his home in the eastern city of Lahore.

Chaudhry announced his resignation on Twitter, denouncing the civil unrest and saying he would “take a break from politics”.

Umar meanwhile held a press conference, saying he had not been pressured into the decision to step down as general secretary.

Amnesty International on Tuesday said “a pall of fear hangs over Khan’s supporters following the arbitrary arrests of many opposition leaders”.

“Authorities must stop clamping down on the political opposition” they said in a joint statement with other organisations, accusing the government of using “vague anti-terrorism laws” to justify detentions.