Karachi [Pakistan], January 11 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders insisted they would hold a public gathering at Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi on Sunday after the party alleged that Sindh police raided Bagh-i-Jinnah, the earlier planned rally venue, on Saturday night and subjected party workers to violence, Dawn reported.
The rally was part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister's three-day visit to Sindh, during which he is leading PTI's street mobilisation drive. The visit began with his arrival in Karachi on Friday afternoon. He visited Hyderabad on Saturday, and PTI planned to conclude the tour with a public gathering in Karachi.
PTI spokesperson Mohammad Ali Bozdar told Dawn that police blocked roads and did not allow PTI workers to enter Bagh-i-Jinnah, where the government had permitted the party to hold the rally.
Bozdar said the KP chief minister would now arrive at Mazar-i-Quaid at 3 pm, repeating his allegation that roads were blocked in various areas and workers were being stopped from reaching the venue.
PTI also said in a post on its X account around 8 am on Sunday that the gathering would be held at Mazar-i-Quaid at 2 pm. PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said in a video statement that the rally would be held at Mazar-i-Quaid on Sunday.
Criticising the Sindh government for allegedly blocking the rally, Sheikh recalled that Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani welcomed the KP chief minister at Karachi airport and presented him with a Sindh cap and Ajrak. "Was that a pretence?" he asked, criticising the Sindh government for its "shamelessness".
On PTI's decision to hold the gathering outside one of the gates of Mazar-i-Quaid, Sheikh said, "Holding a rally at a public gate does not block any route."
The party had initially planned to hold the rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah, and the PPP-led Sindh government issued a no-objection certificate despite objections from the PML-N. However, PTI blamed the Sindh administration for "wasting their time" and announced that the public meeting would now be held in front of the Quaid's mausoleum.
In a late-night development, PTI spokesperson Fauzia Siddiqui posted on X that the Sindh government wasted their time as the deputy commissioner East issued a no-objection certificate on Saturday evening at 6:30 pm. "The public power witnessed in Karachi yesterday has frightened them; they don't understand what to do now. The people of Karachi will be at the Mazar-i-Quaid public gate at 2 pm with our guest, chief minister of KP, Sohail Afridi. We will hold a public meeting at the VIP gate at 2 pm," she stated.
Sindh Home Minister Zia Lanjar warned of strict action if any public meeting was held on the road. "No one is allowed to challenge the writ of the government," he said in a statement.
Later, Sheikh posted on X that the rally would be held at Bagh-i-Jinnah, but the venue again appeared to have been changed, based on PTI's latest post.
PTI later alleged that authorities raided Bagh-i-Jinnah, subjected PTI workers to violence and arrested several party workers. Bozdar alleged while speaking to Dawn that when workers reached Bagh-i-Jinnah around 2 am on Sunday for rally arrangements and preparations, around 15 to 20 police mobiles arrived and law enforcement personnel resorted to baton charges. He claimed more than a dozen PTI workers were detained.
In one of her posts around 4:30 am, Siddiqui said containers had been parked around Jinnah Ground and police personnel were present at the site in large numbers. In another post, she alleged that police had "attacked" Bagh-i-Jinnah, arrested several PTI workers and confiscated their belongings.
Sheikh said in a post on X around 2:30 am that "this fascism against peaceful workers was unfortunate. The PPP and Sindh government, which harp about democracy, should feel ashamed". In other posts, he criticised the "police raid at Bagh-i-Jinnah" and alleged PTI workers were subjected to violence.
In his video statement on Sunday, Sheikh alleged that the NOC was deliberately delayed and asked that when the Sindh government granted permission for the rally, "why was our vendor beaten and made to flee?" He also said the PPP was no longer the party of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
PTI Karachi President Raja Azhar and Faheem Khan said in a statement that a public gathering would be held at Mazar-i-Quaid at 3 pm. "Police brutality and blocking of roads cannot dampen the morale of the people," Azhar said, adding that the rally would prove to be the "public's referendum against cruelty". Faheem Khan urged people to participate in the rally and termed the alleged blocking of roads "an attack on the rights of the people".
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja spoke to media at the Karachi Press Club and condemned what he described as "barbarity" against PTI members. "Cars were smashed, and two dozen members have been detained unlawfully. A lawyer of ours was detained this morning from Bagh-i-Jinnah. It is cordoned off by police right now," he said, adding that PTI had the NOC for the rally. "So the rally will happen," he asserted, without naming the venue.
Earlier, the KP chief minister claimed in a post on X that "upon my return from Hyderabad, all routes for me and my entire team have been blocked. For the past four hours, I've been switching between different routes. At 4:23 am, we've now set off toward Karachi on a deserted road".
"The Sindh government is not only playing with my life but also with the lives of my team," he said, warning that such treatment of a provincial chief minister in another province would "prove highly detrimental in the near future".
"Pakistan belongs to all of us. Do not spread so much hatred here to such an extent that it becomes impossible to return from that point. Fake democratic forces are not leaving any stone unturned in this. This is extremely shameful," he said.
Later, in a video message shared on PTI's X account, the chief minister said: "We reached Karachi around 7:15 pm [...] We will definitely hold a rally today. It took us seven and a half hours to reach Karachi from Hyderabad.
"They had blocked the route at different places, and we were compelled to travel on a deserted route. This was tantamount to putting my and my team's lives at risk, as anything could have happened there."
He urged Karachi residents to attend the rally, adding that "they (the Sindh government) are afraid of the rally, but it will be held."