LAHORE, May 29: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) allegation of mistreatment of its female party workers and supporters in jails, saying that the protection of imprisoned women is his responsibility.
Speaking to the media in Lahore, Naqvi said a total of 32 women were arrested following the May 9 riots and 11 of them are with the Punjab government, adding that never in history have incidents like mistreatment of women in prisons taken place.
“Those who are making these accusations should think before saying such things,” the caretaker CM added.
Naqvi reiterated that all those involved in the Jinnah House attack “will not be spared, no matter how influential they are, they will be prosecuted and punished”.
He also said that he “challenges that if any policeman is found involved in unethical behaviour, he will be punished”.
The caretaker CM stated that there is no truth in the news regarding PTI chief Imran Khan’s house arrest.
The clarification by Naqvi comes a day after former prime minister Imran Khan said that there were reports of abuse, including “rape”, of his women party workers and supporters who were arrested following the May 9 riots.
Imran urged the apex court to take a suo motu notice on the matter.
The claims by the deposed premier came as Interior Minister Rana Sanaulla in his presser earlier this week claimed that intelligence agencies had intercepted a conversation indicating that the PTI was planning two separate actions, which he termed “dramas”.
Without offering further details, the minister said the intercept revealed the former ruling party was planning some action at a specific residence.
He also claimed the intercepted conversations indicated that a “rape act” would be committed and blamed on law enforcers. “It was thought that perhaps this drama would be unfolded [on Saturday night] so it was decided to inform the nation of these fiendish designs,” he claimed.
Addressing the nation following the minister’s press conference, Imran hit out at him and said the cover-up was intended to hide the government’s dark face and the worst form of torture and harassment of women in prisons at the hands of “this fascist government”.
The PTI chief furthered that Sanaullah was “so obviously trying to cover up and preempt the horror stories about to break in the media”.
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