LAHORE: As the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) prepares to flex its political muscle in Islamabad today, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari claimed yesterday that such power shows would bring the party's founder, Imran Khan, out of jail.

The major opposition party is set to hold a public rally in Sangjani, a locality of the federal capital, today, with convoys of loyalists led by senior PTI leaders arriving from various cities across the country. "Today, they [PTI] are going to stage a drama in Islamabad," said Bokhari in a press conference, slamming the Imran-founded party's power show in the federal capital. She added that such public gatherings and rallies would do nothing to release the incarcerated ex-premier. She said that the PTI founder could only be released from jail via courts after facing cases against him. "There is neither an NRO for him nor will these power shows change anything," she added. The provincial minister said that the government was not afraid of political events, however, "we are concerned about their [PTI] past activities." She was referring to the violent protests that erupted after the ex-premier's arrest on May 9 last year in which government and military installations were attacked by protesters.

She alleged that the former ruling party was "planted to create disturbance in Pakistan". Bokhari said that no one would be allowed to disturb the law and order situation at any cost. Prior to the PTI power show, the federal government passed the "Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024", aimed at regulating public gatherings. President Asif Ali Zardari signed the bill into law. The new law empowers the district magistrate to regulate and ban public assemblies in the federal capital, proposing a punishment of up to three years or/and an unspecified fine to the members of an "unlawful assembly".