Power show: All set for PTI’s shut down

Party wings assigned duties to block city roads at 18 points.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has assigned roles to its workers for blocking major roads at 18 points Monday (today).

Starting at 7am, PTI workers will set up pickets to block Shahdra Chowk, Charing Cross, Shalimar Chowk, Liberty Chowk, Thokar Niaz Beg, Chungi Amar Sadhu, LHC Chowk, Bhati Chowk, Mozang Chungi, PMG Chowk, Babu Sabu, Bhatta Chowk, Mughalpura Chowk, Walton Chowk, Akbar Chowk, Raiwind, Chauburji and Joray Pul Chowk.



The workers have been told Imran Khan is expected to visit all these pickets after he lands in the city at 11am. His main speech is expected to be delivered at Charing Cross at 4pm.

Various PTI wings and constituency committees have worked out their strategies for blocking roads.

The Insaf Students Federation is to block Mozang Chungi and the adjoining areas including Ichhra and Abid Market. ISF general secretary Arsal Khan told The Express Tribune: “We are not fighting for the PTI or Imran Khan. We are fighting for our future,” he said. Khan said ISF members had been instructed to remain peaceful, but also come out in full strength. He said the ISF had a registered membership of around 100,000 in Lahore.

The ISF had started blocking the PU New Campus Road on Sunday evening. Members said they intended to continue their blockade of the road on their own on Monday.

PTI workers of the NA-125 constituency will block the Defence Morr, PTI Punjab joint secretary Aliya Hamza Malik said. She said the road would be blocked as early as 6am, using cars and vans.

“Most of our workers will block the roads assigned to them on Sunday night. We hope to block the roads by 7am on Monday morning,” she said.

The team will also be blocking the Bhatta Chowk. She said that there were clear instructions to avoid use of force.

At Chungi Amar Sadhu, Shabbir Siyal, PTI’s central joint secretary, said 5,000 people from adjoining areas would block Ferozepur Road.

PTI women’s wing has instructed its members to work in their respective UCs and constituencies.



“Women have always been an integral part of our activities. There is no point of limiting them to a few points. The show will be ours (women’s) on Monday,” said PTI Lahore women wing vice president Tanzila Imran Khan.

She said women’s teams would make their way to various points under the leadership of Dr Yasmin Rashid, Andleeb Abbas, MPA Sadia Suhail, MPA Nosheen Hamid and Dr Zerka Taimur.

PTI Punjab information secretary Andleeb Abbas said that the party was ready for “anything”. “The government will unleash their Gullus. But we are ready to face everyone,” she said.

General secretary Dr Yasmin Rashid, however, said that people should try to stay home if there was not anything urgent. “We are not sure what these people are capable of. It is better to be safe,” she said.

At a press conference on Sunday, PTI Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan said he had learnt the government was trying to plant people, disguised as PTI supporters, to incite violence. “If anyone bearing a PTI flag is seen causing violence, I request the media to try and capture their faces so that they can be identified later,” he said.

Khan said ambulances and on-duty doctors, judges and media persons would also be allowed to move around the city. “No government building will be harmed,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2014.