LAHORE / RAWALPINDI: PTI’s protests across the country on Friday attracted a dispirited response, as they remained disorganised and sparse due to official restrictions and a “no-show” by central leaders.

PTI workers in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta, Rawalpindi and other cities held demonstrations for the release of their party’s leader, Imran Khan, and against the proposed constitutional amendments.

In Punjab, central party leaders stayed away from protests since the government had banned all gatherings for two days and imposed Section 144 across the province.

The protest in Lahore was scheduled at 2pm at Liberty Chowk. However, police were already present at the site with prison vans before protesters gathered there.

Central leadership stays away from demonstrations; around 20 held in Karachi

Around 2:30pm, PTI Punjab acting president Hammad Azhar, announced on X that the protest venue has been changed to GPO Chowk on The Mall instead of Liberty Chowk.

Similarly, many announced protest locations across the province were changed at the final moment to dodge police.

A sparse demonstration, led by Zaheer Abbas Khokhar and Hammad Awan, was held at GPO Chowk. During the protest, two women leaders, Tanzeela Imran and Ghazala Rafique, were arrested. They were not taken to any police station in Lahore and their whereabouts remained unknown.

In Vehari, Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry, PTI’s candidate for National Assembly seat, was also arrested by plainclothesmen after Juma prayers.

The PTI workers also staged flash protests and motorcycle rallies in different cities.

The gathering in Rawalpindi near Committee Chowk also remained tepid.

A senior PTI leader said their lack of public appearance was due to three reasons.

“One is that workers and supporters mostly respond to the call of Imran Khan only as they don’t accept anyone else as the party head,” the leader told Dawn.

The second reason, he said, was that all local party leaders and ticket holders are hiding to evade arrests. “Some [of them] are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and without local leaders, it would be difficult for people to come out,” he said.

The PTI leader however conceded that there are differences among the party’s provincial leadership, MPAs and local leaders who criticised the Punjab chapter for “not mobilising party workers and supporters for the last one year”.

While talking to Dawn, PTI’s youth leaders expressed their disappointment over the “cold response” from party leaders, MPAs, and office-bearers.

In Okara, PTI deputy general secretary Punjab Mahr Abdul Sattar organised a large protest, while a similar demonstration was led by Rehana Dar and her son Umar Dar in Sialkot.

Protests were also held in Multan, Layyah, Chiniot, Sahiwal and Kasur.

Acknowledging that attendance at the ‘flash’ protests was quite thin, PTI Punjab Information Secretary Shaukat Basra blamed official curbs imposed in all cities and police action against their workers for the low turnout.

He claimed that the party’s main leaders had stayed away from the demonstrations on purpose because “a final call [for protest] is yet to be given.

“Punjab will lead in protests in the next call,” he asserted.

Protests in KP

The PTI protest in Peshawar had some presence of central leadership including Senator Faisal Javed, MNA Sher Ali Arbab, provincial minister Meena Khan Afridi and district president Irfan Saleem.

While addressing the protesters outside the Peshawar Press, Mr Afridi claimed the Constitution is being amended to “pave the way for Imran Khan’s military trial”.

He said the amendment to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges was a “conspiracy against PTI”.

“Children and relatives of senators were being held hostage to pressurise them for voting in favour of their amendments,” he said.

The protest in Bara, Khyber, was led by MNA Iqbal Afridi and MPA Abdul Ghani Afridi. Demonstrations were also held in Wana and Lower Dir.

Arrests in Karachi

In Karachi, at least 19 workers and leaders of PTI were arrested from the protest at Empress Market, according to police and the party officials.

The workers turned out in good numbers despite a ban on rallies and protests.

District South DIG Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that the police have detained 15 workers of the PTI.

PTI Sindh general secretary Ali Palh claimed police also manhandled their workers and fired tear gas. DIG Raza denied the claim.

While addressing the protesters, PTI Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh condemned the police “crackdown” on a peaceful protest.

In Quetta, workers and supporters of PTI and BNP-Mengal held a demonstration outside the press club against the constitutional amendment and alleged harassment and kidnapping of their lawmakers.

Mohammad Ashfaq in Peshawar, Imtiaz Ali in Karachi and Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024