LAHORE: A delegation of the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), led by Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, on Saturday evening reached Minar-i-Pakistan, where the leadership is expected to pass a formal resolution.
However, local authorities closed all doors and blocked people from entering the Minar-i-Pakistan ground.
The TTAP delegation is currently in Lahore to rally support for the opposition’s street movement.
PTI Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza Malik chided the Punjab government for not even allowing the TTAP delegation to present a resolution at Minar-i-Pakistan.
Speaking to media, she said the party had called its workers to go along the TTAP delegation but the “terrified Punjab government” shut the Minar-i-Pakistan ground’s gates.
Drawing a comparison, Malik said the Punjab government allegedly smashed delegation members’ vehicles, while Sindh allowed a reception for the PTI delegation led by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.
Later, the TTAP delegation visited Mazar-i-Iqbal and the Bibi Pak Daman shrine to pay homage.
Earlier, Abbas and Achakzai held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, along with Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Haqooq-i-Khalq Party General Secretary Ammar Ali Jan.
Abbas, speaking at the press conference, said that the opposition movement was about “reforms, protection of the Constitution, ensuring the rights of the people, and the liberation of the downtrodden classes of society”.
He maintained that those in power were “blocking all routes to any reform”. “What avenues will people be left with otherwise?” the leader questioned.
“They will rise and revolt against the system.”
Achakzai also spoke at the press conference, reiterated his earlier stance that the “Constitution was under attack” and the country had been plunged into a crisis.
“We are the common people of Pakistan, and we love this country just as much as anyone,” he said.
“We have to collectively bring the country out of this crisis,” Achakzai said.
“We are not here to tell people that please come follow us; we are here to ask them to stand with us,” Achakzai added.
Achakzai also called on people to join the opposition’s movement, stating that, “In such a crisis, it is a sin to stay at home; you must come out on the streets”.
“It does not matter what party you belong to, which sect, if you love this country, come and sit with us,” he said.
In response to a question regarding talks with the government, the TTAP chief said that regardless of what happens, “we will not make a deal at the expense of Pakistan”.
Achakzai further reiterated that “Pakistan’s army needs to stay within its framework as other countries’ armies do.”
“Those playing with the Constitution of Pakistan are a security risk,” he said.
Achakzai said the powerful quarters “had stopped the natural process of developing leadership through suppression that led to create internal crises.”
Citing that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif tried to take the right path of the constitution, the TTAP chief said he was sidelined and punished for a 10-year forced exile.
Hoping that history would forgive him, Achakzai said that he had asked Nawaz and would also speak to incarcerated PTI chief Imran Khan that the “next democratic government should honour all those judges with the title of ‘heroes of democracy’ — those who did not surrender to the powerful and resigned from their jobs.”
“Such judges should one day be rewarded with all privileges that they had surrendered in their endeavour to uphold the Constitution, judiciary and courts,” Achakzai said.
Responding to a question, Achakzai suggested Pakistan could request the United Nations to call a round-table conference, where Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and China could sit together, thrash out issues and find solutions.
“No country alone can find and implement solutions,” he added.
Ammar Ali Jan also spoke at the press conference and announced that his party, along with trade unions and student organisations, was joining the TTAP for “restoration of democracy, upholding of the Constitution, and the security of the country”.
He lamented that the parliament had been “rendered dysfunctional, the judiciary ruined, and the media chained.”
Meanwhile, PTI has also issued a call to the masses to gather at Minar-i-Pakistan, where the TTAP leadership is expected to announce a formal resolution.
PTI Punjab chief organiser Aliya Hamza Malik had urged party leaders, workers and others to reach Minar-i-Pakistan and prove themselves as good hosts.
As part of today’s activities, the delegation was expected to head to the Data Darbar and Bibi Pak Daman shrines to pay their tributes.
The TTAP delegation wanted to visit Data Darbar to pay homage as soon as it entered Lahore on Thursday; however, the Punjab government blocked all roads leading to the shrine.
Therefore, the opposition alliance had kept the TTAP delegation’s movements secret, hoping they would find open routes to the shrine and Minar-i-Pakistan.
PTI Punjab also distributed pamphlets in an effort to mobilise the party’s support base for the upcoming street movement.
On Thursday, Achakzai, who led the TTAP caravan from Islamabad to Lahore, urged the nation and political parties to support its wheel-jam and shutter-down strike to mark the second anniversary of the Feb 8 elections, saying the protest would also pave the way for talks with the government.
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