SWABI: Law-enforeement personnel on Wednesday removed development scheme plaques and signboards installed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) inTopi tehsil headquarters since victory in the 2013 general eleetions.

It was not immediately known who had ordered the action.

A local official insisted that the move appeared aimed at removing all signs of the previous PTI rule.

He said that the PTI had dominated district politics since 2013 when it first came to power in the province.

The PTI secured a twothirds majority in the 2024 general eleetions.

Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said on social media that the federal government had taken action against the PTI government under the pretext of the prevailing delicate law and order situation.

`No effective plan of action has emerged to end the unrest but political malice and revenge politics have been brought to such a point that now theplaques of development projects are being removed in Swabi,` he said.

Mr Qaiser said the PTI government in Swabi had initiated and completed various development projects and that authorities could spend the rest of their lives removing the plaques but wouldn`t be able to erase the love and appreciation people had for him and jailed PTI founder Imran Khan.

`Tearing down the plaques does not change history, while the politics of revenge does not end the mandate of the people, he said.

Meanwhile, Swabi deputy commissioner Nasarullah said the arrested PTI leaders and workers had been shifted to the main Haripur jail.

`Over 100 PTI leaders and workers were shifted to the Central Prison Haripur,` he said.

In Mansehra, more than 50 PTI activists and socialmedia influencers were taken into custody as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police intensified their crackdown in upper parts of Hazara Division following the imposition of governor`s rule and an emergency in the province.

`We have rounded up around 50 PTI office-bearers and members of its social media wing, while raids are still being carried out across the district,` a Mansehra police official told reporters on Wednesday.

Police in Mansehra, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts intensified their crackdown on PTI lawmakers, office-bearers and social media influencers although Hazara Division hasn`t witnessed any street protests against the imposition of the governor`s rule and emergency in the province.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati has report-edly been taken into protective custody in Peshawar.

According to the government, Mr Swati`s cousin approached the Peshawar High Court seeking orders for his release.

Police raided the speaker`s hujra last night but his nephew and PTI provincial deputy president Kamal Saleem Swati and brother Taimur Khan escaped.

They also raided the residence of PTI district general secretary Abdul Shakoor Khan Lughmani in Baffa but he had reportedly gone into hiding.

The family of MPA Akramullah Ghazi claimed he had also been taken into custody. Police neither confirmed his arrest nor denied the claim.

The families of PTI MPAs Munir Hussain Lughmani and Laig Mohammad Khan said their whereabouts were not known, while police maintained that both hadgone underground to prevent arrest.

The Upper Kohistan police confirmed raids across the district and said PTI MPAs, office-bearers and active workers had gone into hiding. No arrests have so far been made there.

The Torghar police held a flag march to demonstrate their resolve to prevent any attempt to disturb peace in the district.

District police officer Arshad Khan led the march, saying nobody will be allowed to take the law into their own hands and that strict legal action will be taken against law violators.

Meanwhile, MPA Mohammad Riaz from Kolai-Palas was allegedly `kidnapped` by unidentified people as he travelled from Abbottabad to Mansehra, before the enforcement of emergency and governor`s rule in the province.-Dawn Report