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Several PTI leaders, including party president in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MNA Junaid Akbar, were expelled from Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday while they were campaigning for upcoming elections.
Accounts from the PTI and its leaders also suggested Akbar and his companions were also briefly detained by the authorities before being expelled. However, an official statement by the GB government said that no arrests were made and the leaders had only been expelled over violating of the election code of conduct.
Initially, the PTI said in a post on X that “PTI KP President Junaid Akbar, along with MNAs Saleemur Rehman, Amjab Ali Khan, Syed Mehboob Shah, MPA Naeem and […] Dr Nawaz were arrested by the GB government and administration at a check post when they were returning from the Ghizer district”.
The PTI also shared a video of the alleged arrest on X, in which Akbar and others were seen sitting inside what appeared to be a van. In the background, a man in a police uniform could also be seen.
