PTI is not a political party but should be treated as terrorists: Azma

• Azma Bokhari blames PTI for using tear gas on police.
• “You can’t use public resources for vandalism,” she says.
• PTI has always been against the development of Pakistan: Minister.

Following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) insistence on holding a meeting at Islamabad’s D-Chowk today despite Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s warning, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said Friday that the party was not a political party. and it should be treated as a terrorist entity.

“The (PTI) is not a political party,” Bokhari said during an interview Geo news program ‘Geo Pakistan’.

To a question, the Information Minister said she had heard the Home Minister last night and she believed he would not allow the PTI supporters into the federal capital.

Naqvi on Thursday warned the PTI against holding the public meeting as visits of foreign dignitaries were planned in Islamabad, including the Malaysian Prime Minister.

Amid its anti-government campaign, the former ruling party – founded by Imran Khan – is holding protests for the “independence” of the judiciary and the release of the former prime minister from prison.

The protest will coincide with the last day of the Malaysian Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan and the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. Authorities have already implemented Section 144 and the ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024’, which regulates the holding of public meetings at certain places in Islamabad.

“The PTI top leadership should reconsider its protest call (…) No one will allow an attack on Islamabad,” the security czar said while addressing a mediaperson along with Federal Police officials.

Meanwhile, the provincial information minister, PTI, had always opposed Pakistan’s development.

“The country is progressing and inflation is coming down, but they cannot stay at peace,” she said.

She blamed PTI for using tear gas shelling on police officials during the last protest, adding that they would not have been stopped if they had held a peaceful protest. But they came to create anarchy, she claimed.

“The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should ask them why they were not doing any work. You cannot use public resources for vandalism,” she said.

On the other hand, she said that Punjab was peaceful and people were busy with their daily routine work. Since the Punjab Chief Minister was doing her job, the people of the province were not interested in participating in the demonstration, she added.