City was turned into a prison: Aleem Khan

Qureshi and Tareen lashes out at provincial govt for what they called tactics employed to harass rally participants

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders said on Saturday that sealing of the route of their Pakistan March had hindered movement of their workers. They said it was an attempt by the administration to sabotage the rally.

PTI central Punjab president Abdul Aleem Khan accused the provincial government of blocking access to major roads by putting containers. He said the government had turned the city into a prison.

The four points along the route where PTI chief Imran Khan’s vehicle was to stop to let him address the participants were inaccessible for most of the day on Saturday. These were Shahdra Chowk, Bhati Gate, Nasser Bagh and the Lahore High Court. Containers were put up on roads leading to The Mall till the Charing Cross to block access. The Provincial Assembly’s main entrance had been cordoned off on Friday night and containers placed on roads leading to it to block access.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, PTI urban Lahore general secretary Hammad Azhar said containers had also been placed on Ring Road, Outfall Road and other roads leading to Shahdara. This, he said, violated the plan discussed by the administration and the PTI, he said. He said the containers were removed after a PTI team raised the matter with the administration. He expressed reservations over the sealing off of adjacent roads 500 metres away from the four points along the route where the PTI chief planned to address the participants.

PTI leader Yasir Gillani said that it had been agreed in talks with the administration that barriers would be set up on these roads 100 metres away from the route. He said in a meeting with Operations DIG Haider Ashraf on Saturday afternoon the party’s delegation was assured that the matter would be resolved.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jehangir Khan Tareen, too, lashed out at the provincial government for what they called tactics employed to harass rally participants.

Qureshi said he had received reports from caravans of PTI workers coming from Jhelum, Sialkot and Sargodha that containers were placed on major inter-city roads to block movement. He said Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had tried to discourage participation by making claims about security threats in the city.

The PTI chief had arrived in the city on Friday night. The rally was scheduled to start at noon on Saturday. However, it started with a delay of around four hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2016.