Imran Khan’s party not allowed to hold Independence Day rallies

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party supporters during an Independence Day rally in Lahore. PIC/AFP

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was not allowed to hold rallies to celebrate the country's Independence Day and over 100 party workers were detained by security agencies across Punjab, the party said on Thursday.

"On Wednesday, Punjab police pounced on the PTI workers for trying to hold rallies in Lahore, Sahiwal, Multan and Faisalabad and arrested over 100 workers," a PTI Punjab official told PTI on Thursday. He said the police tortured the PTI workers and even manhandled women participants. "Our only crime was to celebrate Pakistan Independence Day," he said.

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A Punjab police senior officer said that the PTI workers arrested on Wednesday were released on Thursday. He said the police had orders from the top not to allow Khan's party to hold Independence Day rallies.

1 killed, 10 wounded in grenade attack

Insurgents in an overnight attack threw a grenade at people sitting in front of a hotel in the restive southwest Pakistan and killed at least one person while wounding 10 more, police and hospital officials said Thursday. The attack was the third in as many days in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, as people celebrated the country's independence day. The separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) group claimed responsibility for all the attacks, including the latest one.

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