Numaish dharna ends

The protest sit-in of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which started on Wednesday at Numaish Chowrangi ended in the morning on Thursday.

Former Federal Minister Ali Haider Zaidi, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Khurram Sher Zaman, Shehzad Qureshi, Bilal Ghaffar and Abbas Jafari were present in the protest. Sound system hooked to huge speakers continued playing party songs throughout the night, while a huge screen mounted on a truck showed live coverage of D Chowk.

Meanwhile, after a long-day of fight with the protesters, heavy contingents of police deployed at Khudadad Colony and Gurumandir, kept a safe distance from the sit-in.

Ali Haider Zaidi, addressing the participants of the sit-in, said that this sit-in is a battle for the future of our children.

Zaidi urged the participants not to move from the spot and wait for party chairman's telephonic address.

Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Member Provincial Assembly and former Leader of Opposition, asked workers if they support Imran Khan and would not go r home. The participants raised their hands and vowed to sit till Imran Khan's phone call.

At around 4am, it was reported that a heavy contingent of police raided the house of Ali Haider Zaidi in Defence but he was not present in the house. PTI leaders strongly condemned the raid and said that when Ali Haider Zaidi was at sit-in, why police need to go to his house. The party leadership provided biryani, pulao, roll pratha and water bottles to participants of sit-in late in the night. They kept chanting slogans in support of Imran Khan and against Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

After Imran Khan's announcement to end the sit-in in Islamabad, PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar thanked the participants at the Nomaish Chowrangi and announced to end the sit-in after which the workers left the venue. Later, the traffic police restored the flow of traffic.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2022.