PTI to organise public meeting in Sehwan ‘come what may’

MNA Arif Alvi says Sindh govt delaying permission for venue to create hurdles

HYDERABAD: Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who have planned to organise a public meeting in Sehwan on October 22, have blamed Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Sindh government for delaying permission for the venue.

PTI Sindh leader MNA Dr Arif Alvi, who visited Sehwan on Saturday, complained that the two grounds being considered for the event, where party chief Imran Khan will address the public, have already been sealed by the local administration.



"[PPP Co-Chairperson] Asif Zardari and [Chief Minister] Murad Ali Shah are afraid of the PTI," said Dr Alvi, while talking to the media. He alleged that the government's machinery is attempting to sabotage the party's public meeting. But, he added, the PTI will succeed in organising the public meeting by circumventing all the obstacles placed in its path.

He warned of arranging the event outside the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar if the government remained stubborn in denying them the permission. "We will not do anything illegal. We have written an application to the administration for the stadium ground," Sardar Yaar Muhammad Rind, a PTI Balochistan leader who accompanied Dr Alvi, said. "We will hold the public meeting, come what may," he vowed.



Dr Alvi said that Imran will make an important announcement regarding Mancchar Lake, one of Asia's largest freshwater lakes spread over around 200 square kilometres of area which has been completely polluted by the release of toxic waste water. Dr Alvi deplored that despite being the constituency of the provincial chief minister, the town is deprived of basic civic facilities, health and education.

He said the PPP has become a part of history. "The party has no future. The people of Sindh are welcoming Imran Khan," he claimed. He said it is important to hold a public event in Sehwan, especially after the terrorist blast at the shrine in February this year.