QUETTA: To mark the one-year anniversary of the 2018 general election that they believed had been rigged to bring the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf into power, opposition parties observed a black day on Thursday by holding public gatherings in the four provincial capitals.

Lahore witnessed an impressive show of power by the opposition parties on the Mall Road, though the Punjab government had denied permission for the event. Activists and sympathisers of major opposition parties took out processions in different parts of the country, particularly in Sindh.

Speaking at different public meetings, the leadership of the main opposition parties — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party — termed the black day the beginning of the end of the PTI government.

The opposition leaders vowed to continue their struggle to seek mid-term elections in the country at the earliest to “restore democracy in a real sense and get rid of inefficient rulers”.

Maryam warns of long march to Islamabad, Bilawal calls for ‘revolt against selected govt & selectors’

Addressing a public meeting at the football ground of Ayub Stad­ium in Quetta, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz announced that a long march to Islamabad would be staged soon and urged national institutions to extend their support to the people instead of an “imposed government”.

Ms Nawaz claimed that Imran Khan had made many compromises during his visit to the United States and accepted President Trump’s dictates which the previous governments had refused to accept.

She said that a “selected” prime minister could not solve the problems being faced by the people.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) president Meh­mood Khan Achakzai, Main Iftikhar Hussain of the Awami National Party (ANP), National Party chief Dr Malik Baloch, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial emir Maulana Abdul Wasay and Balochistan High Court Bar Association president Nasibullah Tareen also spoke on the occasion.

Speaking at a public gathering in Karachi, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called for a “revolt against the selected government and selectors”.

Recalling the 2018 general elections and alleged rigging, he spoke about various “tactics” to change the results in favour of a certain party and its candidates and even referred to “interference from the army” in the process.

“Today is the first anniversary of the one of the darkest days of Pakistan history, when the people were robbed of their democratic and voting right. Even then when the required results could not be achieved, then army soldiers were deployed inside polling stations. If this move also failed then polling agents were thrown out of polling stations.”

He said the rallies staged across Pakistan to mark the black day was beginning of the movement against the “selected government” of the opposition parties.

“The party has just begun,” the PPP chairman said as the crowd roared approval. “Our movement against the selected government has just taken a start and in the next phase, you would see Hasil Bizenjo becoming chairman of the Senate.”

In Lahore, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif led a rally from Model Town while Qamar Zaman Kaira led the PPP’s workers to the Mall. There was also representation of small parties like the JUI-F, JUP, ANP and Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith.

Police placed barricades and blocked all thoroughfares leading to the protest venue. PML-N leaders said the police had blocked rallies on Ring Road and Shahdara.

The opposition workers had occasional brawls with police while forcing their way to the Mall Road. However, no injury was reported.

The venue echoed with the slogans of ‘Go Niazi Go’. Charged workers cursed the PTI government for unprecedented price hike, inflation and joblessness and also demanded release of their leadership which they said were imprisoned in false cases.

Most of the PML-N’s women workers were clad in black dress to mark the black day.

In Peshawar, a public meeting was organised by the coordination committee of major opposition parties at Motorway Chowk on Ring Road.

Keynote speakers included PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, PPP general secretary Nayyar Bukhari, ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan, JUI-Fazl leader Akram Durrani and Qaumi Watan Party chairman Aftab Sherpao.

JUI-f chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also participated.

Ahsan Iqbal said owing to faulty economic policy of the government, national economy was at the verge of collapse. He said the population was growing fast but the government had failed to devise any plan during its one-year tenure to provide jobs to unemployed youth.

“During the 72 years, no prime minister has completed its constitutional tenure which is a matter of grave concern for the democratic forces,” Mr Iqbal said and asked the politicians to join hands to protect the constitution and promote rule of law and freedom of speech.

Asfandyar Wali accused the government of targeting the politicians in the name of accountability and said the number of parliamentarians languishing in prisons during the era of the PTI government had no precedence in the past.

To mark the black day, JUI-F workers staged a sit-in in Hyderabad and activists and supporters of the JUI-F, PPP and PML-N parties took out processions in Jacobabad, Sukkur, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Ghotki, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019