LAHORE / RAWALPINDI: PTI’s nationwide rallies on Friday drew a dejected response since, as a result of government restrictions and central leaders’ “no-show,” they remained disorganized and few in number.
PTI members demonstrated against the planned constitutional modifications and in favor of Imran Khan’s release in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta, Rawalpindi, and other cities.
Central party officials in Punjab refrained from attending rallies as the government had enforced Section 144 throughout the province and prohibited all meetings for a period of two days.
The Lahore demonstration was slated to take place at Liberty Chowk at 2:00 pm. But, before protestors gathered at the location, police had already arrived with prison vans.
The central leadership does not participate in protests; Karachi hosts about 20 of them.
Acting PTI Punjab President Hammad Azhar declared on X at 2:30 pm that the protest location had been shifted from Liberty Chowk to GPO Chowk on The Mall.
In a similar vein, other protest sites that had been publicized across the province were abruptly altered to elude law enforcement.
At GPO Chowk, there was a small protest organized by Hammad Awan and Zaheer Abbas Khokhar. Two female leaders, Tanzeela Imran and Ghazala Rafique, were taken into custody during the demonstration. Their whereabouts remained a mystery as they were not brought to any Lahore police station.
Following Juma prayers, Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry, the PTI’s contender for the National Assembly seat in Vehari, was also taken into custody by plainclothesmen.
In other places, the PTI employees also organized motorcycle rallies and flash protests.
The assembly in Committee Chowk, Rawalpindi, likewise didn’t heat up.
Three factors, according to a top PTI leader, account for their lack of public appearances.
The leader told Dawn, “One is that workers and supporters respond to Imran Khan’s call primarily because they don’t accept anyone else as the party head.”
He claimed that the second reason was that all of the ticket holders and local party leaders were hiding to avoid being arrested. It would be impossible for individuals to leave Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where some of them are located, he said, without the support of the local leaders.
The Punjab chapter was criticized by the PTI leader for “not mobilizing party workers and supporters for the last one year,” but he also acknowledged that there are disagreements within the party among MPAs, local leaders, and provincial leadership.
PTI’s youth leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the “cold response” from MPAs, office-bearers, and party officials in a conversation with Dawn.
Mahr Abdul Sattar, the deputy general secretary of Punjab for the PTI, organized a sizable protest in Okara, while Rehana Dar and her son Umar Dar spearheaded a parallel event in Sialkot.
In addition, there were protests in Kasur, Multan, Layyah, Chiniot, and Sahiwal.
PTI Punjab Information Secretary Shaukat Basra acknowledged that the “flash” protests drew relatively few people, but he blamed the low turnout on government limitations implemented in all cities as well as police action against their workers.
The party’s top brass had deliberately avoided the protests, he said, since “a final call [for protest] is yet to be given.”
He declared, “Punjab will lead in protests in the next call.”
Demonstrations in KP
Some members of the central leadership of the PTI, such as Senator Faisal Javed, MNA Sher Ali Arbab, provincial minister Meena Khan Afridi, and district president Irfan Saleem, were present during the protest in Peshawar.
“To pave the way for Imran Khan’s military trial,” Mr. Afridi asserted while speaking to the demonstrators in front of the Peshawar Press, claiming that the Constitution is being changed.
He called the move to raise the Supreme Court judges’ retirement age a “conspiracy against PTI.”
He said that senators’ families and children were being held captive in order to coerce them into supporting their proposals.
Leading the demonstration at Bara, Khyber were MPA Abdul Ghani Afridi and MNA Iqbal Afridi. Lower Dir and Wana also saw demonstrations.
Karachi Arrests
According to police and PTI officials, at least 19 workers and leaders were taken into custody during the protest at Empress Market in Karachi.
Although demonstrations and rallies were prohibited, a sizable turnout of workers attended.
Dawn was informed by District South DIG Syed Asad Raza that 15 PTI employees were being held by the police.
According to PTI Sindh general secretary Ali Palh, police also used tear gas and mistreated their employees. DIG Raza refuted the assertion.
PTI Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh denounced the police “crackdown” on a nonviolent rally while addressing the demonstrators.
PTI and BNP-Mengal employees and supporters protested outside the press club in Quetta over the proposed constitutional amendment and the alleged intimidation and kidnapping of their legislators.
