Islamabad, Aug 6: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) held nationwide protests to mark three years of PTI founder Imran Khan’s imprisonment, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announcing that the party will again hold a march on September 27 if authorities do not lift the restrictions imposed on the party founder, local media reported on Thursday.

While addressing people in Peshawar on Wednesday, Afridi said that PTI demands included unrestricted meetings with Imran Khan, allowing the PTI founder to receive treatment from his personal physician and expeditious hearings of court cases against him, Pakistan-based leading daily The Express Tribune reported.

Afridi said, “If these demands are not met, we will march on Islamabad on September 27.”

He said that Imran Khan could secure his release from prison with a “single signature”, but he continued to remain in prison for the sake of the country, its people and future generations. He stated that PTI had lost hope in Pakistan’s courts after the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments were implemented by the government.

A large number of PTI’s former Members of Provincial Assembly – Ayesha Banu, Momina Basit, and women from the Women Wing, participated in a rally in Peshawar to mark three years of Imran Khan’s imprisonment.

Protests were held in Quetta on the call given by Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai. Similarly, protests were staged outside Aiwan-e-Adl in Lahore, where members of the Insaf Lawyers Forum and senior party leaders led a rally and called for the immediate release of Imran Khan.

In Karachi, PTI supporters staged a demonstration near Karachi Press Club and traffic disruptions were reported as authorities blocked roads leading to the venue. In response to the protests, police arrested several PTI leaders and workers and used tear gas and baton charges to disperse demonstrators, The Express Tribune reported.

Similarly, Imran Khan’s party also held protests in Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Mithi and other parts of Sindh, where the demonstrators called for the party founder’s release.

Imran Khan has remained in prison since August 2023 after convictions that his party, PTI, has termed politically motivated. Since his ouster from office in 2022 through a no-confidence vote, Imran Khan has faced several cases, including allegations involving state gifts and an unlawful marriage case.

Last month, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, expressed concerns over reports of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s detention conditions and his not getting access to proper medical care. She also urged Pakistan to restore humane conditions and allow the former PM to access medical examination and treatment of his own choice.

In a post shared on LinkedIn, Edwards mentioned that Khan has been kept in near-total solitary confinement for 33 months in a small, windowless cell and is often not allowed to have human contact for over two weeks continuously.

“Fmr PM Imran Khan has now been held in near-total solitary for 33 months in a small, windowless cell under 24-7 CCTV. Often more than 2 weeks continuously, without exercise or meaningful human contact. This far exceeds the MANDELA rules,” Edwards wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

“I am also concerned about reports that he is being denied proper medical and is suffering from serious medical issues that have not been treated appropriately, compounding a spinal injury from a 2013 accident and bullet wounds sustained in a November 2022 assassination attempt. I call on Pakistan to restore humane conditions and allow him his choice of medical examination and appropriate treatment,” she added.

Tehran, Aug 6: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said communication with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is very “difficult at the moment,” but his presence is a “great strength” for the country to continue its path.

The United States and Israel killed Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28 out of “desperation,” expecting Iran to collapse after the “brutal” action, Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of his office on Wednesday (local time).

“However, the country continued, and our (new) beloved leader was selected,” he said. “Our new dear leader’s presence is a very great strength for us to be able to continue this path, although communication with him is very difficult at the moment.”

He said Iran is facing its “most difficult” circumstances, citing intensified banking sanctions, curbs on foreign transactions, a naval blockade, and an ongoing war, reports Xinhua news agency.

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader by the country’s Assembly of Experts in early March.

This comes against the backdrop of Iran and Oman almost finalising an agreement on new arrangements for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, under which the temporary northern and southern routes will be replaced by a new single route passing through Iran’s territorial waters for two to four months.

Meanwhile, an informed source close to the Iranian negotiating team told semi-official Fars news agency that the reopening of the strait hinges on tangible US implementation of its commitments, adding that the US Treasury Department’s removal of sanctions on an Iraqi airline on Wednesday was unrelated to the Iran-US MoU.

Iran tightened its control over the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, barring safe passage of vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States, following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.

The US military launched multiple waves of strikes against Iranian targets last month, saying they were in response to Iranian attacks on vessels in the strait and aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.”

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US military bases and facilities in the region.

Quetta, Aug 5: The Baloch National Movement (BNM) alleged that as many as nine civilians have been killed and dozens forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan’s Nushki district over the past few days, as the region has remained under military siege for several months.

Expressing grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Nushki, the BNM said, “Pakistan Army has stripped civilians of their freedom of movement, effectively turning the entire region into an ‘open-air prison’. Nushki is among the districts that have been subjected to an intense military blockade for months. As a result, daily life has been severely disrupted, while the transportation system has come to a near standstill.”

“During the past week alone, the Pakistan Army has killed at least nine people and forcibly disappeared dozens of others,” it added.

The BNM said that the blockade has also resulted in acute shortages of medicines and essential food supplies, with children, the elderly, and the sick bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis.

The group further said that the Pakistani Army, taking advantage of the curfew, broke into shops in the local market, looted businesses, and damaged civilian property.

“Passenger and cargo vehicles have been barred from entering or leaving the region, while even ambulances transporting critically ill patients to hospitals have been prevented from passing,” it added.

According to BNM, “these measures constitute one of the harshest forms of collective punishment imposed by the Pakistani state in Balochistan.”

Asserting that the Pakistan Army is facing defeat in its confrontation with the “Baloch movement”, the group said, “The growing momentum of the Baloch struggle for independence has left the Pakistan Army demoralised and psychologically weakened. In an attempt to restore its declining morale, the Pakistan Army has resorted to false propaganda, portraying attacks on unarmed civilians as victories against the Baloch movement.”

The BNM stressed that the people of Balochistan must stand firm and demonstrate resilience amid the ongoing atrocities by Pakistani forces.

“Freedom is the destiny of the Baloch nation, and the Pakistan Army is approaching a decisive and humiliating defeat on the Balochistan front,” it noted.

Last week, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) criticised Pakistani authorities for the military siege and curfew in Nushki, terming it a “continuation of the state’s policy of collectively punishing the Baloch people”.

It urged the international community to take notice of the situation in Balochistan, especially Nushki, and play an effective role in ending the state’s unchecked power and grave human rights violations.