Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is determined to hold a public gathering at Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi on Sunday after PTI alleged Sindh police raided Bagh-i-Jinnah — the earlier planned venue for the rally — on Saturday night and subjected party workers to violence.
Meanwhile, Afridi also claimed that his and his team’s routes were blocked while they were returning from Hyderabad to Karachi.
The KP CM is on a three-day visit to Sindh, which began with his arrival in Karachi on Friday afternoon. He visited Hyderabad yesterday, and the PTI plans to conclude his visit with a public gathering in Karachi.
The visit is part of the PTI’s street mobilisation movement.
PTI alleges police raid at Bagh-i-Jinnah, changes rally venue
The PTI said in a post on its X account at around 8am on Sunday that the party’s public gathering would be held at Mazar-i-Quaid at 2pm.
The party initially planned to hold the rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah, and the PPP-led Sindh government had even issued a no-objection certificate for it despite objections from the PML-N.
But the PTI blamed the Sindh administration of “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 had issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) on Saturday evening at 6:30pm.
“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 2pm with our guest, chief minister of KP, Sohail Afridi. We will hold a public meeting at the VIP gate at 2pm,” she stated.
But 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, PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh posted on X that the rally would be held at Bagh-i-Jinnah, but the venue again seems to have been changed, going by the PTI’s latest post.
