KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was making his way to Mazar-i-Quaid on Sunday night, while the PTI alleged its supporters were met with shelling in the afternoon at the previously announced venue of Bagh-i-Jinnah.
The Sindh government has permitted the PTI to hold a rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah. However, the PTI, citing a delay in receiving the permit, earlier announced it would organise the gathering at one of the gates of Mazar-i-Quaid.
The rally has been planned as part of the KP CM’s four-day visit to Sindh, who is leading his party’s street mobilisation movement.
At 7:44pm, PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said CM Afridi’s convoy was facing delays “due to obstructions at various places, and the public’s affection, welcomes and responses at numerous places”.
At around 9pm, Sheikh said the KP CM would reach the venue in five minutes, and lashed out at the Sindh police and government for their actions.
The PTI also shared visuals of the welcome accorded to the party caravan by their supporters in Baldia Town and Ittehad Town’s Khyber Chowk.
A short while before that, the PTI said the Sindh police had “attempted to prevent” CM Afridi’s convoy from moving forward, but the party leaders “had the path reopened with the help of party workers”.
The video showed party leaders, including Shafiullah Jan, speaking to the police before the convoy’s vehicles were allowed to move ahead.
The PTI also shared videos of hundreds gathered at Bagh-i-Jinnah, with supporters chanting “Jiye Imran” and “Tera yaar, mera yaar, Qaidi No. 804”.
In a video recorded while on his way to the venue, Afridi said his convoy would reach Mazar-i-Quaid after going through Baldia Town, Keamari, Banaras Chowk, Golimar and Gurumandir so PTI supporters could join the caravan.
Former MNA Faheem Khan said, “Ten of our vehicles were intercepted. But no worries; I am reaching the rally venue with another vehicle equipped with a sound system.”
In a statement on X, the PTI hailed the public for its “historic display of public power and expression of love for Imran Khan”.
“Despite all the fascism, violence, arrests and obstructions by the Sindh government through its police, thousands of people have gathered inside and around Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah and on the surrounding streets at the moment,” it said.
“This is the scene that serves as a clear message to those with fascist mindsets that public power cannot be stopped by walls and batons,” the PTI asserted.
“This gathering is a renewal of the pledge that we are ready to give every sacrifice for Imran Khan, Pakistan, true freedom, supremacy of the Constitution and law, independence of the judiciary, and our basic rights.”
Shelling, roadblocks at venue: PTI
Shortly after 4pm, PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh shared a video on X wherein a woman said police have resorted to shelling at party supporters at “Mazar-i-Quaid’s garden”.
Video footage aired by DawnNewsTV showed multiple police vans at Bagh-i-Jinnah and cops employing shelling, with people gathered there retaliating by pelting stones.
Another video shared with Dawn showed dozens gathered at an unknown location, with people pushing aside containers that had been placed to block a route.
The Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) — an ally of the PTI under an opposition alliance — also said its leader Allama Sadiq Jafri and others had reached “Jinnah Ground”, possibly referring to Bagh-i-Jinnah.
PTI spokesperson Mohammad Ali Bozdar told Dawn that police had blocked roads and were not allowing party workers to enter Bagh-i-Jinnah, where the government had previously allowed the party to hold the rally.
He reiterated his allegation that police had blocked roads in various areas and were preventing PTI workers from reaching the new venue of Mazar-i-Quaid’s VIP gate as well.
Bozdar said CM Afridi would pay his respects at the mausoleum and later on, he would address party workers from a truck, the arrangements for which had been completed.
‘Attack’ on mediapersons
Separately, Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar took notice of an “attack“ on Aaj News’ vehicle near Gurumandir Chowrangi.
He also directed the East district senior superintendent of police (SSP) to immediately provide details on “police action”.
“Miscreant elements will be dealt with firmly. We will not let anyone sabotage law and order,” Lanjar asserted.
The minister said the perpetrators would be arrested by tracing them using the modern monitoring system.
In a statement, PTI’s Bozdar also condemned the attack on mediapersons and said action should be taken if someone had “attacked the media”.
“The PTI’s workers are peaceful. No one is allowed to take the law into their hands,” he stated. “The media is the public’s voice; attacks on media will not be tolerated under any circumstances,” he added.
The board members of Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) condemned the “attack of a charged crowd on media; violence against journalists, cameramen and staff; and damage caused to DSNGs”.
“How can this group declare themselves pro-democratic after attacking the media?” said a joint statement by KUJ President Ejaz Ahmad and others.
“What message did they try to convey by targeting the media?”
The KUJ demanded that the Sindh government trace the perpetrators through CCTV footage and bring them to justice.
The Crime Reporters Association (CRA) also strongly condemned the vandalism incidents, adding that there was a “clash between political workers and police” during coverage at Bagh-i-Jinnah.
“Media representatives busy in fulfilling their duties got caught in the middle of this chaos and were targeted, while the vehicles (DSNGs) and equipment of many media houses were damaged,” the CRA stated.
Sindh government spokesperson Sadia Javed, in a statement, said there were “attacks on multiple news channels’ vehicles and pelting”. The vehicles of GNN and Aaj News were among those damaged, while a worker of Channel 5 was reportedly assaulted.
In his statement, PPP Karachi General Secretary Rauf Ahmed Nagori alleged that PTI workers “vandalised citizen vehicles during their protest”.
PTI changes rally venue
The PTI had initially planned to hold the rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah, and the PPP-led Sindh government had even issued a no-objection certificate for it despite objections from the PML-N.
But the party blamed the Sindh administration for “wasting their time” and announced that the public meeting would now be held in front of the Quaid’s mausoleum.
In a video statement, Sheikh criticised the Sindh government for allegedly blocking the rally. He recalled that Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani had welcomed the KP CM at the Karachi airport and presented a Sindh cap and Ajrak to him.
“Was that a pretence?” he questioned, slamming the Sindh government for its “shamelessness”.
On the party’s decision to hold a gathering outside one of the gates of Mazar-i-Quaid, he said, “Holding a rally at a public gate does not block any route.”
Sheikh alleged the NOC for the rally had been deliberately delayed, further questioning that when the Sindh government had granted permission for the rally, “why was our vendor beaten and made to flee?”
He decried that the PPP was no longer late prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s party.
“Police brutality and blocking of roads cannot dampen the morale of the people,” PTI Karachi President Raja Azhar said in a statement, adding that the rally would prove to be the “public’s referendum against cruelty”.
Similarly, party member Faheem Khan urged people to participate in the rally and termed the alleged blocking of roads “an attack on the rights of the people”.
Late on Saturday, Sheikh said that while the PTI had announced Mazar-i-Quaid as the venue as the NOC had not been issued by then, the party had again decided to hold the rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah after getting the permission.
PTI alleges arrests at Bagh-i-Jinnah
Separately, the PTI alleged that authorities had raided Bagh-i-Jinnah, subjected its workers to violence and also arrested several of them.
Party spokesperson Bozdar, while speaking to Dawn, alleged that when workers reached Bagh-i-Jinnah around 2am on Sunday for rally arrangements and preparations, around 15 to 20 police mobiles reached the spot and law enforcement personnel resorted to baton-charge. They detained over a dozen PTI workers, he claimed.
At around 2:30am, PTI spokesperson Fauzia Siddiqui posted on X that the Sindh government wasted their time as the deputy commissioner East had issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) on Saturday evening at 6:30pm.
“The public power witnessed in Karachi yesterday has frightened them; they can’t decide what to do now. The people of Karachi will be at the Mazar-i-Quaid public gate at 2pm with our guest, the chief minister of KP, Sohail Afridi. We will hold a public meeting at the VIP gate at 2pm,” she stated.
But the Sindh home minister warned of strict action if any public meeting was held on the road. “No one is allowed to challenge the writ of the government,” Lanjar said in a statement.
In one of her posts at around 4:30am, Siddiqui said that containers had been parked around Jinnah Ground and police personnel were present at the site in large numbers.
In another post, she alleged police had “attacked” Bagh-i-Jinnah, arrested several PTI workers, and their belongings had been confiscated.
Similarly, Sheikh said in a post on X at around 2:30am that “this fascism against peaceful workers was unfortunate. The PPP and Sindh government, which harp about democracy, should feel ashamed“.
In other posts, he decried the alleged police raid at Bagh-i-Jinnah and claimed PTI workers had been subjected to violence.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, speaking to the media at Karachi Press Club today, decried the “barbarity” that PTI members had been subjected to.
“Cars were smashed, and two dozen members have been detained unlawfully. A lawyer of ours was detained this morning at Bagh-i-Jinnah. It is cordoned off by police right now,” he said, adding that the PTI had the NOC for the rally.
“So the rally will happen,” he asserted.
In response to a Dawn query, police sources denied detaining any PTI workers this morning and said they just removed them from Mazar-i-Quaid. The sources said police took action to disperse the party workers, alleging that they had blocked a main road.
The sources also said that while there would be no restriction on the movement of KP CM Afridi, PTI workers would not be allowed at Mazar-i-Quaid.
KP CM claims routes blocked from Hyderabad to Karachi
Earlier on Sunday, CM Afridi claimed in a post on X that “upon my return from Hyderabad, all routes for me and my entire team have been blocked. For the past four hours, I’ve been switching between different routes. At 4:23am, we’ve now set off toward Karachi on a deserted road“.
“The Sindh government is not only playing with my life but also with the lives of my team members,” he said, warning that the precedent of such treatment being meted out to the CM of one province in other provinces would “prove highly detrimental in the near future”.
“Pakistan belongs to all of us. Do not spread hatred here to such an extent that it becomes impossible to return from that point. Fake democratic forces are not leaving any stone unturned in this. This is extremely shameful,” he said.
However, Hyderabad SSP Adeel Chandio told Dawn that “no obstruction was created in the convoy and rally of KP CM in Hyderabad until he left the city”. “And he left the city safely,” he added.
Later, in a video message shared on PTI’s X account, the CM said: “We reached Karachi around 7:15pm […] We will definitely hold a rally today. It took us seven and a half hours to reach Karachi from Hyderabad.
“They had blocked the route at different places and we were compelled to travel on a deserted route. This was tantamount to putting my and my team’s lives at risk, as anything could have happened there.”
He urged Karachiites to come out for the rally today, adding that “they (the Sindh government) are afraid of the rally, but it will be held”.
Raja also posted on X that he had reached Karachi from Hyderabad after “seven hours, driving through jungles in the CM KPK’s vehicle”.
“Motorway closed. The fascist state lost its nerve after seeing the massive response of the people, given two days of freedom and human dignity,” he said.
PTI not abiding by assurances, claims Sharjeel Inam
From the Sindh government, Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon maintained that his provincial government had warmly welcomed Afridi and provided him with complete security.
“The post of chief minister is a constitutional post and constitutional posts have been fully respected,” he said in a statement, maintaining that the PTI was in constant touch with the Sindh government.
He then accused the opposition party of “not abiding by the assurances” it had given, but did not specify any guarantees.
“It was clearly said on the very first day that they are allowed to hold a rally. It is inappropriate to make allegations against the Sindh government despite this,” he said, maintaining that no one had stopped the PTI from holding a rally in the ground.
However, the manner in which rallies and processions were being taken out on the roads was causing severe traffic disruption and common citizens were facing difficulties, he said.
“Karachi is a metropolitan city; traffic problems arise here even when a few hundred people gather,” he said. “We want the KP chief minister to complete his visit in a peaceful manner.”
He said that PTI workers should not take the law into their own hands and should follow the guidelines given by the government. The movement of common people should not be affected and violation of laws should be avoided, he added.
Memon said a security alert had also been issued regarding the rally, and a security plan had been devised.
“Unfortunately, the security plan is not being followed,” he claimed, further maintaining that complete security had been provided by Sindh police in connection with the rally.
“In view of security concerns, the instructions of the Sindh government should be followed, and only routes allocated by the government should be used,” he said.
Memon claimed that the route designated for the PTI in Hyderabad had not been followed and they took a route of their own choice.
“It is not correct to say that the convoy of the chief minister of KP was stopped on its return from Hyderabad,” he said. “The place where the convoy faced difficulty is the National Highway Authority bridge, where traffic congestions are frequent.”
More to follow
Additional input by Mohammad Hussain Khan
