ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced to go ahead with its plan to hold a ‘record-breaking’ public meeting on July 6 at Tarnol for supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law in the country.
The announcement was made here during a news conference by PTI’s senior party leaders, including Shamim Naqvi, Amir Mughal, who is president of the party’s Islamabad chapter and Shoaib Shaheen.
They vowed to continue their peaceful political struggle until the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law are ensured in the country. They emphatically made it clear that ‘permission or no permission’, a successful and peaceful public gathering would be held with public support, with the slogan ‘Qaidi 804 ka Nara, Azadi Haq Hamara’.
Speaking on the occasion, Amir Mughal said that PTI had been struggling for a long time to get an NOC to hold a public gathering in Islamabad, but the administration denied permission on flimsy grounds. He recalled that PTI had been given permission to hold a jalsa on the 27th of Ramazan, but the party leadership did not accept the date and requested another date after Eid. Mughal added that subsequently, PTI was allowed to hold a jalsa in a remote area in Rawat, but they refused to hold it since it was not an appropriate and suitable location for a huge jalsa.
Eventually, he pointed out that Islamabad High Court (IHC) was moved, and Judge Babar Sattar on June 26 directed the party leadership and the local administration to mutually and amicably sort out the issue, and the DC Islamabad agreed to allow PTI to hold the jalsa.
However, he added that the DC Islamabad did not issue an NOC despite the lapse of several days, even in the face of the court’s clear directives, indicating how much they were scared of the power of Imran Khan and his supporters.
Amir Mughal said that they were left with very little time to make arrangements for such a mega event, as they needed at least seven days to complete the arrangements in this regard. However, he made it clear that PTI would hold a peaceful jalsa and appealed to all people from across the country to partake in the public meeting.
Shamim Naqvi said that it was their constitutional right to hold peaceful gatherings. He said that it was not a PTI jalsa but a grand opposition alliance, but unfortunately, the mandate thieves and their abettors were hell-bent on strangulating democracy and fundamental human rights through unlawful coercive and unlawful measures.
However, he made it crystal clear that PTI would hold the public gathering at the designated place at the given time because they had taken all the legally and constitutionally required steps and urged people from across the country to take part and make it a historic event.
Shamim Naqvi insisted that stability in the country could only be possible by confining the role of political parties and all state institutions, including the military establishment, to their constitutional ambit. He added that they could not be scared through intimidation and implicating in false cases, as they would continue their struggle along with the prisoner of conscious to make Pakistan a truly democratic welfare state.
Shoaib Shaheen claimed that all political leaders, including Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto, and Maryam Nawaz, had held public gatherings and sit-ins without any obstacles during PTI’s tenure. However, he regretted that PTI leaders and workers had been facing state brutalities and coercions during the last two years.
The PTI leader said that the mandate thieves had plunged the country into the worst political and economic crisis, as they had pushed almost half of the population below the poverty line, with the poor being further burdened under taxes while the privileged were given all perks and privileges.