Reacting to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s arrest, party stalwart Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday that a meeting of the core committee has been summoned and urged supporters to not take the law into their hands. “Peaceful protest is our right but no state asset is to be damaged. Don’t take the law in your hands,” he cautioned, in a video statement released shortly after the PTI chief was handed a three-year prison term in the Toshakhanna case. He rejected the verdict issued by a district and sessions court in Islamabad, wherein Judge Humayun Dilawar declared the former premier as established dishonest “beyond doubt”. Qureshi also asked party supporters to continue efforts for the PTI chief’s release peacefully while assuring them that the action plan moving forward is being prepared. This is the second time the former premier has been jailed. In the days following Imran’s detention on May 9, 2023, by the paramilitary Rangers from an Islamabad Court’s premises, former foreign minister Qureshi faced multiple arrests. He was jailed for over a month after being arrested multiple times immediately after release in connection with cases lodged over protests, rioting and vandalism that broke out across the country on May 9 over Imran’s arrest. Qureshi and PTI leader Asad Umar, who had suffered a similar fate, were granted interim bail till August 8 in May 9 cases by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore on July 21.
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