PTI announces Sept 6 Karachi rally to be led by K-P CM Sohail Afridi

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday announced that it would hold a public rally on Karachi's Shahrah-e-Quaideen on Sept 6, led by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who is scheduled to begin a four-day visit to Sindh on Sept 3 along with the party’s central leadership.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi alongside PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said Afridi would arrive in Rahim Yar Khan on Sept 3 and proceed to Kamo Shaheed on the Sindh-Punjab border in Ghotki district, where party workers would receive him.

He said the K-P chief minister would then travel to Kashmore district before proceeding to Jacobabad.

Announcing Afridi’s schedule, Sheikh said that on Sept 4, he would leave Jacobabad and travel through Shahdadkot, Larkana and Khairpur before reaching Khairpur.

On Sept 5, he would travel through Nawabshah and Tando Allahyar before reaching Hyderabad and would ultimately arrive in Karachi on Sept 6.

“On Sept 6, he will be our guest in Karachi, and there will be a big rally on Shahrah-i-Quaideen,” Sheikh said, urging the people of Karachi and Sindh to participate in the rally in large numbers.

Asked whether the party would be allowed to hold the rally, Sheikh expressed hope that the authorities would grant permission.

“Even if permission is not granted, there will be a rally in Karachi,” he asserted.

Read: 14 newborns killed in fire at PIMS Hospital in Islamabad

He said Sept 6 would also be observed as Defence Day and the PTI would speak about the defence of Pakistan and the rights of its people.

Sheikh also expressed grief over the Islamabad tragedy in which 14 infants were burnt to death.

He said that, besides the “heart-wrenching” incident in Islamabad, an incident had also occurred in Karachi in which, according to him, 96 children were infected with HIV/AIDS due to the use of contaminated syringes.

“These children and their parents will suffer every day. Neither their fathers nor their mothers had AIDS. It was the government that had AIDS, as it used the wrong syringes, which resulted in the children contracting AIDS,” he said, adding that AIDS had also spread badly in Larkana.

Criticising the Sindh government, Sheikh said 60,000 people in the province had developed mouth cancer, which he attributed to the use of gutka, mainpuri and drugs. He alleged that the Sindh government’s economy depended on these activities.

Speaking about Wafflix owner Mir Raza Ali, who was murdered last month, Sheikh alleged that efforts were being made to deliberately portray the case as suicide.

He said a committee was then formed, but when the committee reached close to some findings, a judicial commission was constituted.

Raja said Pakistan had effectively developed two separate systems — one for the rich and another for the poor.

Also Read: Health committee finds no evidence old AC caused fire that killed 14 newborns

He said the deaths of 14 newborn babies at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) had exposed the failure of a system that did not adequately protect disadvantaged people.

“Right now, two systems are being imposed on us across the entire country: one system for the rich, and the other for the poor. The children of the rich go to schools where the children of the poor cannot go; the children of the rich are born in places where the children of the poor cannot be born; the children of the rich go to hospitals where the children of the poor cannot go,” he said.

“This country is currently facing a catastrophe; life has been made unbearable for the poor,” Raja said.

He said government schools had provided good education until 1980, after which, according to him, a military ruler decided that children of the rich would study in private English-medium schools.

“Today, the children of the poor and white-collar people cannot even sit alongside the English-medium-educated children of the rich,” he said, adding that discrimination had been created in Pakistan that did not exist elsewhere in the world.

Expressing grief over the deaths of the infants, Raja said the tragedy had raised serious questions about the state of public healthcare.

“A committee comprising those responsible has been formed, but the question is: where is the country heading?” he said.

He said the PIMS tragedy was another manifestation of inequality, as wealthy families generally did not depend on basic health units while poor people had no alternative.

Raja also claimed that around 40 per cent of children in the country were behind in mental development and stunted in growth for their age, leaving them disadvantaged throughout their lives.

Read More: 'Give me my child back': Mother mourns infant lost in PIMS fire

Asked about the debate over the creation of new provinces, Raja said the formation of provinces was a matter of basic rights and the structure of the country, and that only an assembly representing the people could undertake such a task.

“We do not consider this assembly to be representative of the people. Therefore, whatever has to happen will be done by an assembly that comes into existence as a result of fair elections,” he said.

He added that whatever happened would be done with the consultation and participation of PTI founder Imran Khan.

Raja urged people to come out and make their voices heard, assuring them that the PTI leadership would remain at the forefront of the struggle.

“If 250 million people come out of their homes and onto the streets, this system will collapse,” he said.