PTI gets nod to hold polls rally in Lahore today

LAHORE:

After deferring it twice, the PTI on Sunday finally received a conditional nod for staging its election rally on Monday (today).

On the directions of Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the Lahore district administration met with the party’s leadership to discuss the rally, its route and security arrangements.

The district administration, however, imposed a condition that no PTI leader would give a statement against the judiciary or any other institution.

The Punjab caretaker chief minister also tweeted earlier in the day that there was no restriction on political activities in the province.

He added that all political parties were allowed to run their election campaigns.

He, however, highlighted that political activities were restricted by the imposition of Section 144 of the PPC for a day for holding the Pakistan Super League (PSL) cricket match and Lahore Marathon – both events were scheduled long ago.

Earlier, following the caretaker Punjab government’s imposition of Section 144 in Lahore again and deployment of Rangers in the city, PTI Chairman Imran Khan deferred the party’s election rally once more to avoid any untoward incident.

Speaking to the media, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that Imran would personally lead the party’s election rally on Monday.

He asked the party activists and supporters to remain peaceful as the government wanted to “create an atmosphere of panic and chaos” to “avoid the elections”.

He disclosed that detailed deliberations were held among the party's senior leaders over the current political and security situation.

During the meeting, Imran was briefed about the “discriminatory attitude” of the caretaker government as well as the security situation in Lahore.

Considering the “ugly” situation and alleged killing of a die-hard PTI activist Ali Bilal alias Zillay Shah on March 8, the party chief decided to call off the election rally for another day.

Qureshi advised party activists to return to their homes and remain peaceful.

“The current rulers wanted to create anarchy in the country to steer clear of the elections. The PTI activists should not fall into the trap of imported rulers and give them this opportunity,” he added.

He alleged that the caretaker government of Punjab was trying to create a security situation in the province.

He highlighted that PTI leaders Dr Babar Awan, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Dr Yasmin Rashid had complained about the caretaker government’s actions to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Dr Awan had also moved the court against its “biased” attitude, he added.

After receiving the PTI’s pleas against the imposition of Section 144 in Lahore, the ECP has called a meeting, to be presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, on Monday to review them.

It has been argued in the pleas that the imposition of Section 144, under the pretext of the PSL cricket match, was illegal.

They further contended that the routes of rally and the PSL matches were different.

They added that the PTI rally would come to an end at 5:30pm while the PSL matches were scheduled to start at 7pm.

The former foreign minister maintained that the caretaker government wanted to cancel the PSL cricket tournament and arrest PTI leaders as well as its activists but the party would not provide it with this opportunity.

He requested the chief justice of Lahore High Court to listen to the PTI's application.

“We opted for a different route for our election campaign to avoid any hurdle in the vehicular movement during the PSL and Lahore Marathon. The PTI rally was no threat to these events,” he claimed.

Qureshi said the PTI rally was being organised in connection with the upcoming elections for which a schedule had been announced on the Supreme Court’s directives.

However, he added that the caretaker government of the province was showing its ill-intentions and creating unrest.

Speaking to the media on the occasion, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the country had been deprived of fundamental, political and constitutional rights.

He added that the incumbent rulers feared Imran.

“They wanted the martyrdom of the poor political activists by creating chaos to run away from elections,” he maintained, adding that the PML-N had no political future.

He pointed out that the PML-N was holding a convention despite the imposition of Section 144 but the PTI could not stage a rally.

“The current rulers are so afraid that they have banned the attendance of the PTI activists at Data Darbar,” he added.

He maintained that it seemed that the ECP was working in partnership with the caretaker rulers.

“The incumbent rulers want to convert Pakistan into Burma [now Myanmar]. They are increasing the difficulties of the country,” he claimed.

Separately, the PTI wrote a letter to the Lahore deputy commissioner and informed her that the rally had been scheduled on March 13.

A copy of the letter, available with The Express Tribune, read: “It was agreed as per communication with you on 11th March, 2023, that [the] rally planned on 12th March, 2023 should be rescheduled, mentioned in your letter dated 11/03/2023. [The] rally [has been] scheduled on 13th March, 2023 [and] will be led by ex-prime minister Imran Khan.”

The letter also pointed out that it had come to the PTI’s attention via the PML-N’s official social media that it had organised a convention at [Lahore’s] Bhatta Chowk on Sunday, aided by police security.

“Such acts clearly indicate biased policies, where [the] PTI was not allowed to organise [an] election rally,” the letter read.

It noted that the caretaker Punjab CM's Twitter handle had announced that there was no ban on political activities and all parties were free to run their campaigns.

“In the light of [the] statement made by CM above, [the] rally and other activities were restricted only for today [Sunday] and there is no restriction for tomorrow. It is further submitted that [the] Election Commission [of Pakistan] has not announced any restriction on political activities including [staging a] rally,” the letter stated.

“Therefore, it is the domain of [the] Election Commission [of Pakistan] which has not imposed any ban. Therefore, you are not competent to adhere [to] the same,” it continued.

“You are hence requested to provide security to [the] PTI chairman and to all [the] participants of [the] rally and also to deploy security [personnel on] the points mentioned in the route attached. Special security arrangements are required for the ex-prime minister. The rally will also be attended by senior leadership and ex-ministers,” the letter concluded.