ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday staged countrywide protests against alleged rigging in the general as well as by-elections and for the release of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan as reports of police crackdown on the party activists in parts of Punjab poured in.

In Karachi, the PTI took out a protest rally on the Rashid Minhas Road. PTI Sindh Chapter President Haleem Adil Sheikh was leading the rally. Addressing the rally at Char Minar Chowrangi, Sheikh said: “The nation voted us to free PTI founder. Our protest is for the release of Kaptan and against the mandate theft.”

Addressing a press conference in the port city, PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan lashed out at the Punjab IG for his “cruelties” against his party workers. He said that former Punjab CM Mohsin Raza Naqvi had victimised the PTI in the past but now the Punjab IG was doing the same.

Ayub said that they were staging protests for the release of PTI founder and other incarcerated leaders and women activists of the former ruling party.

In addition, the PTI recorded protest in Quetta, where a large number of PTI workers and leaders took out a rally.

According to PTI the Punjab Police have arrested dozens of PTI workers and conducted raids at their houses and offices to thwart the protest.

Police raided the camp of PTI ticket holder Malik Hamad Ali Awan from PP-151. Police personnel also reached PP-149 ticket holder Hafiz Zeeshan’s election office. According to sources, the police also raided the house of ticket holder Yasir Gilani in Shahdara, Lahore.

The PTI staged protest rallies in Shahdara, Garden Town and other areas of Lahore.

During an interaction with journalists in Islamabad, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan alleged that their sound system and chairs were picked up on the eve of his party’s 28th Foundation Day. “Rigging was committed everywhere to defeat the PTI,” he added.

In Faisalabad, the police stopped the PTI protest rally on the Samandari Road and arrested MNA Changez Khan Kakar, MPA Sheikh Shahid Javed and others.

Taking to X, PTI leader Hammad Azhar alleged that the Lahore police have taken at least 12 of his workers, including a 12-year-old boy, into custody from his constituency.

In a social media post shared on the official X handle of the PTI, the former ruling party lambasted the Punjab Police chief and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for arresting the 12-year-old.

The PTI staged massive protests and sit-ins across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the party is in power. In DI Khan, a large number of PTI workers held a protest outside the press club. The PTI also held rallies in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi and other cities of the province.