In a show of strength, Pakistan’s main opposition party Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members gathered at Minar-i-Pakistan on Saturday despite being heavily peppered with tear gas and subjected to baton charges by the Punjab administration, media reports said.
Shouting slogans, the protesters had gathered to commemorate PTI chief Imran Khan’s birthday and approve the “Haqeeqi Azadi” (Real Freedom) resolution near the Minar-i-Pakistan – the tower built at the site where the All India Muslim League had on March 23 1940 passed the Pakistan Resolution. Dawn reported that they had responded to a call from the party founder.
PTI supporters showed up in force despite a ban on any political rallies in Lahore and four other towns. In addition, the government had placed paramilitary and police personnel on high alert, erected container roadblocks, and sent Rangers into Lahore.
The government in the province of Punjab had also called asked for army deployment to uphold law and order. But the Home Department made it clear that the main purpose of these deployments was to protect heads of state who were coming to Islamabad for the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. A spokesman for the Home Department stated, “The army troops will be deployed as per requirement in Rawalpindi and Attock.”
Instructing PTI followers who could not go to Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, to hold rallies in their home cities, Imran Khan has issued a “Do or Die” command. Caravans of PTI workers from nearby cities had also rolled onto the Minar-i-Pakistan grounds late at night.
Later, Hammad Azhar, the acting president of PTI Punjab, declared that the demonstrations will go on as planned by the party’s political committee. “The second-tier leadership will assume control if there are any more arrests,” he said.
Salman Akram Raja, the head of the party, tweeted that the PTI has made the decision to continue protesting the proposed constitutional modifications. “Every Pakistani will join this protest and it will spread throughout the country,” he continued.
