LAHORE: The house of Arslan Khalid, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former focal person to Imran Khan, in Lahore was raided shortly after the passage of the vote of no-confidence in the then-prime minister in the National Assembly at midnight.
“Ex Focal person on PM @ImranKhanPTI on Digital, Dr. @arslankhalid_m’s home has been raided & they have taken all phones from his family!,” read a tweet issued early Sunday by the party.
“@FIA_Agency please look into it.”
Extremely Disturbing News:
Ex Focal person on PM @ImranKhanPTI on Digital, Dr. @arslankhalid_m‘s home has been raided & they have taken all phones from his family!
He has never abused anyone on social media & never attacked any institutions. @FIA_Agency please look into it
— PTI (@PTIofficial) April 10, 2022
While the country at this moment is without a government, it wasn’t immediately clear which agency carried out the raid and who authorised it.
The suspects “misbehaved with his [Khalid’s] old mother in her own house”, Waqas Ahmed, a journalist, tweeted.
Dr Arslan Khalid’s home was raided hours after this speech. They misbehaved with his old mother in her own house. You sit on the back of the most fascist military junta the country will ever see. Shame on you for normalizing it, pretending its kosher. https://t.co/lHYjs3nNYX
— Waqas (@worqas) April 10, 2022
A former head of the PTI social media team, Khalid was appointed as Khan’s focal person on digital media in February 2019.
He led the digital media campaign for the 2018 general elections, according to his profile on the PTI website.
A graduate of the King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Khalid has also served as the operations chief of the party’s social media team.
PTI MP and former minister for planning and development Asad Umar said the incident “is highly condemnable”. “Patriotic youth like dr. Arslan are an asset for the nation.”
Raid on @arslankhalid_m house is highly condemnable. Patriotic youth like dr. Arslan are an asset for the nation
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) April 10, 2022
The raid came less than two weeks after a Jang Group journalist, Saleem Safi, threatened Khalid with dire consequences “once the dust settled on the no-confidence vote”. Safi had accused Khalid and members of the former government’s social media team of hurling abuses at him, but did not provide any evidence.
ایک دفعہ عدم اعتماد کامعاملہ کسی کنارےلگنےدیں توانشااللہ پہلاکام ارسلان،اظہر،غزالی اورجبران وغیرہ کوعدالت کےکٹہرےمیں کھڑاکر کےنشان عبرت بنانےکاکروں گا۔تب ان لوگوں اور ان لوگوں کو نوازنے والوں سےقومی خزانےکی اس رقم کاحساب لیاجائےگاجوان لوگوں نےہم جیسوں کو گالیاں دینےکےبدلےلوٹا۔
— Saleem Safi (@SaleemKhanSafi) April 1, 2022
The incident also coincided with a meaningful speech delivered by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and prime minister hopeful Shehbaz Sharif who, while addressing the Parliament Saturday night, said there would be “no reprisals against political opponents under the new government”, before adding that the “law would take its course”.
“Not surprising bec[ause] “deep-seated” intolerance for criticism leads to irrational rage. But criticism on social media [is] often spontaneous unlike coups [sic],” PTI MP Shireen Mazari tweeted.
Wow!Deep shadows cast over @arslankhalid_m ‘s house as it got raided & his family’s phones taken away. Not surprising bec “deep-seated” intolerance for criticism leads to irrational rage. But criticism on social media often spontaneous unlike coups! #WeStandWithDrArsalanKhalid
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) April 10, 2022
