ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the government will first direct PTI leaders and workers, who have voluntarily presented themselves for arrests, to far-off jails before sending them to prisons in Lahore or Rawalpindi.
“Between 100 to 150 people have so far courted arrests as part of the PTI's 'Jail Bharo' movement’,” Sana said this at a press briefing here on Sunday. He said that eighty per cent of the arrested ones are asking to be released. He revealed that all participants of the PTI’s drive have been taken into custody for 30 days. “You wished to go to jail, so you have been sent there,” he said mockingly, “we are having you visit jails so that you can acquaint yourselves with the conditions there”. Without referring to the matter that remains subjudice, Sanaullah said “we will first fill jails in far-off areas and afterward fill the jails of Lahore and Rawalpindi”. “We hold the judiciary in utmost respect and regard,” he added as he stressed that “weakening” the judiciary would be synonymous with “increasing the difficulties of the country”. However, the interior minister simultaneously stressed that “bench-fixing” allegations must be probed, hinting at a series of controversial audio leaks attributed to former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. Sanaullah urged the apex court to take suo motu notice over the alleged close ties that Elahi maintains with a Supreme Court judge.
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