Campaign trail: Sarwar slams govt over Sheikhupura jalsa cancellation

PTI says district govt retracted permission without assigning any reason

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Punjab Organiser Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Tuesday accused the government of creating hurdles in its campaign for the second phase of the local government elections.

The statement comes in the wake of the last-minute cancellation of a scheduled political jalsa in Sheikhupura.

Sarwar was scheduled to address the gathering. However, the party announced its cancellation, claiming the authorities had refused permission.

“The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is being allowed to hold political gatherings, but the PTI is not. We will not be silenced by such tactics,” Sarwar said at a press conference.

He said that the PTI had decided not to engage in confrontational politics despite pressure from the ruling party. “Despite obtaining prior permissions for holding political gatherings, the party has been disallowed to do so at the last minute,” he said.

Sarwar accused the government of failing to protect the interests of all political parties. “Unless institutions are depoliticised, there is no way we can strengthen the state,” he said.

Sarwar said that there would be no protests now and the party would move towards politics of issues.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PTI Sheikhupura District Organiser Kanwar Imran said that the party had requested the district government to get permission for holding the jalsa. “The permission had been granted by the DCO. Today, the district government told us that the jalsa could not be held without assigning any reason,” he said.

“PTI candidates received threatening phone calls and were told not to attend any political gathering,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2015.