A file photo of the day of the Model Town clash. PHOTO: MEHMOOD QURESHI/EXPRESS
Political analysts are expecting both interesting and ugly situations to arise during the Wednesday’s public gathering when supporters of two arch rivals – PTI chairman Imran Khan and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari – will converge on Faisal Chowk, Mall Road.
'Imran has refused to share stage with Zardari during Jan 17 PAT-led protest'
On Monday, PTI leaders held a meeting to finalise arrangements ahead of the Wednesday’s public gathering called by a 40-member alliance of political and religious parties and personalities led by the Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT).
PTI’s central Punjab president Abdul Aleem Khan said the party had assigned duties to its local leaders in 10 districts of central Punjab and that it intended to flex its muscle at the public gathering.
“Although it is a PAT-led public gathering, you will see PTI’s flags everywhere … Imran Khan will be participating in the public gathering too,” he said.
According to him, Khan would announce the next phase of agitation campaign on the occasion.
The people of Lahore, he said, would demonstrate that the ‘incapable’ rulers who murdered 14 innocent people in Model Town in 2014 could no longer remain in power.
Another PTI leader Ejaz Chaudhry said Jehangir Khan Tareen, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Abdul Aleem Khan, Shoaib Siddiqui, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Shoaib Siddiqui, Mian Aslam Iqbal and Dr Muraad Raas are also expected to attend the public gathering.
Veteran PPP leader Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo detailed the arrangements for the protest, saying that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and other senior leaders would attend the gathering.
PPP workers from all districts of Punjab would participate in the public gathering, he said. Asif Ali Zardari had already arrived in Lahore to monitor preparations, he added.
PPP leader Faisal Meer said that the PPP would not take part in any sit-in. He reminded that it would be a sight to behold because the PTI chief had insisted on numerous occasions that he would not sit with Zardari on any forum. Zardari, he said, never made any such statement as nothing was final in politics.
Meanwhile, the PML-N also held a meeting at Jati Umra to deliberate upon the Wednesday’s public gathering. The meeting was attended, among others, by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former PM Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique.
Model Town carnage: PAT-led parties seek permission for Lahore protest
They also discussed the upcoming Senate elections and political crisis in Balochistan.
As opposition parties prepare to hold the protest, the district administration refused to allow a gathering on Mall Road. The administration advised the opposition parties to change the venue if it was “very necessary to hold a public gathering”.
Police high-ups also warned leaders of opposition parties and other possible participants not to take part in the public gathering because of serious security concerns.
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