Reportedly, Noreen Khan, sister of Imran Khan, in a message to workers of PTI from outside Adiala Jail on Tuesday, asked them to shut KPK completely on 8th February and also occupy Tarbela Dam to cut off the power supply. She said, “Do something bigger.” She probably thinks that enacting yet another horrible attack on the state, like 9th May would put pressure on the government to release Imran Khan. The party does not seem to have learnt from the repercussions of 9th May, which has led to the incarceration of hundreds of its workers and some second-tier leaders, and could have dire consequences for the founding chairman himself for having masterminded the attack.

Basant returns to Lahore after decades as kite sales and free transport announced

Inciting workers to violence and challenging the writ of the state is indeed a very serious crime that the state will never tolerate or allow. The founding chairman has been convicted on charges of corruption by the courts of law and his release is only possible through the judiciary. He is not a political prisoner. The party is surely treading a wrong path fraught with disastrous consequences. His case is better left to the courts.

Another regrettable reality is that the party continues to build an anti-Army narrative and express solidarity with the terrorists who are carrying out their nefarious attacks at the behest of our archenemy India and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Terrorism poses an existential threat to Pakistan, and it is because of the unparalleled sacrifices rendered by our security forces and law-enforcing agencies that their nefarious designs are being thwarted. Showing sympathy or solidarity with such elements amounts to disloyalty to the state.

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