Salman Akram Raja, PTI leaders say barred from entering G-B ahead of polls

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, along with party founder Imran Khan’s Spokesman on Legal Affairs Naeem Panjutha and MPA Shaukat Basra were reportedly barred from entering Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) on Tuesday to partake in the final phase of campaigning ahead of the upcoming June 7 polls.

In a post on X, Raja stated that the PTI leaders were stopped from proceeding into G-B, with his name listed with the deputy superintendent of police. “We, along with friends who had come from ISF, have been surrounded by police vehicles and expelled from the province,” he added.

In a separate post, the secretary general stated that his name, along with those with him, was given to the authorities so that the group may be barred from entering G-B. He added that “the foundational relationship between the public and the state, formed on the basis of votes, has been broken.”

Read: PTI cries foul after leaders detained in G-B

Further, Raja claimed that the authorities told him and the group that they had been directed to stop the group and ensure they did not enter G-B.

The PTI also posted a statement on its official X account, saying that G-B police stopped the leaders at the first checkpoint as soon as they entered Gilgit.

Panjutha, part of the exiled group, stated that the PTI was not being allowed to campaign, writing that sometimes the party symbol was taken away and other times, the authorities were ordered to conduct raids. “Everyone else is being allowed vehicles, but we’re not being let go,” he said.

The party’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) president, Junaid Akbar Khan, was arrested by G-B Police at Hunza on Friday while campaigning for the upcoming polls. Akbar was visiting various areas of the region as part of PTI’s election campaign when he was detained along with Members of the National Assembly Saleemur Rehman and Syed Mehboob Shah.

Akbar said he was told to leave Gilgit because he did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC).

Reacting to Raja’s group being stopped and expelled from the province, Akbar took to X, terming the incident as “extremely shameful and condemnable”. He added, “My question is: if the elections are truly free and transparent, then why such fear of PTI and its leadership?”

“Those claiming to conduct the elections: will the “transparency’ of elections be ensured by tying the hands and feet of political opponents, arresting them, and expelling them from the province? Has this reign of darkness now simply been named democracy?” he asked.

Read More: K-P CM Afridi writes to G-B top judge, seeks judicial intervention over election concerns

Meanwhile, PTI Provincial General Secretary Ali Asghar Khan stated that “every limit of shamelessness has been crossed.”

Senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser, on May 30, also claimed that he had been barred from reaching Islamabad Airport and missed his flight to Skardu for the election campaign.

“Punjab Police did not allow entry into Islamabad Airport, blocked the airport’s access routes, and we, along with the general public, had to face severe difficulties,” Qaiser said after the incident. The former speaker of the National Assembly added that police kept him in custody until his flight to Skardu departed.

Instances of PTI leaders claiming they are being restricted from campaigning in G-B for the polls came as those from other political parties, such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party continue their push to mobilise voters in the region through rallies and public gatherings.