“The government is feeling threatened by the increasing popularity of the PTI. That is why it is not allowing us to hold a public gathering at Khawaja Fareed College,” PTI district president Rana Raheel said at a press conference in Khawaja Fareed College grounds.
Raheel said the party had submitted an application for permission for a public gathering to DCO Nabeel Javed.
He said the DCO had visited the site and had expressed satisfaction with the choice of venue.
He said later he had refused to give permission for the meeting.
He said the gathering had been declared a security risk by the local administration.
He said former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had held his public meeting in the same ground. He said the PTI would go ahead and hold its meeting at the college and nobodyshould attempt to stop them from doing so.
DCO Nabeel Javed told newsmen that the site where the PTI wanted to hold the gathering fells under the jurisdiction of the federal government and the request for permission for the gathering should be addressed to the higher education secretary.
He said the college was located in the middle of the city and surrounded by the DCO’s office, a medical college and several other offices of the government. He said there were no arrangements for parking at the site.
He said an alternative location for the meeting had been suggested to the PTI leaders at Shaikh Khaleefa Stadium on Abu Dhabi Road.
He said the PTI had not agreed to it.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2014.
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