PTI’s Asad Qaiser claims Punjab police prevented him from entering Islamabad airport and made him miss Skardu flight

ISLAMABAD:

Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser on Saturday claimed that he was prevented from reaching Islamabad airport and missed his flight to Skardu for election campaigning in Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

In a statement on

The former speaker of the National Assembly added that the police kept him in custody until his flight to Skardu departed.

Qaiser stated that because of the incident, “the elections in Britain can be seen as being rigged at all costs and people are being deprived of their right to vote.”

Later, leaders of the PTI and those of the opposition Tehreek-e-Tahuf-e-Ayien Pakistan (TTAP), including Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, held a press conference condemning the incident.

Read: PTI appoints committee for GB elections

Qaiser told the conference that all political parties were going to Skardu for election campaigning, but the Punjab police had stopped him from leaving.

“We should be told by what authority the Punjab Police detained us,” he said, adding, “Does the Punjab Police have the authority to arrest an NA member in this manner?”

The PTI leader declared: “Stopping us and allowing others to leave is discrimination in politics,” recalling the treatment meted out on Friday to PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chairman Junaid Akbar Khan, who was arrested by British police in Hunza while campaigning for the upcoming elections.

“I appeal to the people of Gilgit to cast their vote and also protect it,” he said, demanding that the chief election commissioner ensure that all political parties have a level playing field. “If you cannot offer a level playing field to all political parties, then resign from your position,” he added.

Meanwhile, Khokhar claimed: “Due to this government action, thousands of people were stranded in the heat” and “many people missed their flights.”

Qadri, on the other hand, claimed: “Preventing Asad Qaiser from going to GB is pre-election manipulation”, claiming that attempts were being made to “break loyalties in GB”.

Read more: Voting on the mountain: why the UK elections are important for Pakistan

Leader of the opposition in the Senate, Allama Raja Nasir, came to X to express his displeasure over the incident. “Detaining Asad Qaiser is not only regrettable but also a flagrant violation of democratic values ​​and political freedoms,” he said.

Nasir added that in Britain, “federal ministers and leaders of other political parties are carrying out full-fledged election campaigns, but leaders of the PTI and TTAP are continually being attacked.”

“Yesterday, Junaid Akbar Khan was detained in Gilgit, and today Asad Qaiser has been banned from travelling. If leaders of a specific party are deprived of their fundamental democratic right to run election campaigns, then claims of transparent elections and political equality lose all credibility,” the opposition leader said.

Former opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan also criticized X and said, “All these actions are being taken against the PTI while other members of the party are given an open field to run their campaigns.”

In April, the UK Electoral Commission announced that general elections in the region would be held on June 7, 2026, after a four-month delay. Initially scheduled for January 24, 2026, the elections were postponed indefinitely due to harsh weather conditions in the region.