LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf plans to shut Lahore down on Monday but its leaders have expressed apprehensions that the Punjab government may try to sabotage its ‘peaceful’ protest and sit-ins by fielding its own men under the guise of PTI workers.
Leaders of the party have appealed to the media to record and identify saboteurs who may try to create a Faisalabad-like situation. The party has asked its workers to block the city’s entry and exit points.
Imran Khan will visit the city and address sit-ins in different localities. The main speech will be at Faisal Square on The Mall in the evening.
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PML-N leader and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the provincial government would not create any obstruction, adding that PML-N workers had been directed to keep away from roads.
The PTI has requested traders, transporters and people from all walks of life to participate in the protest and sit-ins and sacrifice a day for the “cause of justice and genuine democracy”.
The Sunni Tehreek and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen have announced their full support and the PML-Q a ‘silent’ backing for the Lahore shutdown programme.
Punjab government’s spokesman Zaeem Qadri said educational institutions and offices would remain open and the metro bus would ply as per routine. He warned that the PTI would be responsible for any law and order problem.
Meanwhile, a group of transporters held a demonstration from Ravi Road to Lahore Press Club on Sunday against the PTI’s shutdown call. They said the protest would affect their business.
PTI leaders and workers also took out processions and held sit-ins in different areas. The Insaf Youth Wing marched from Liberty Chowk to Data Darbar. The Insaf Students Federation blocked the Punjab University’s New Campus Bridge, suspending traffic for some time.
Addressing a news conference, PTI’s Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid said her party would ensure that its protests and sit-ins remained peaceful. “The PTI has requested traders to keep their businesses shut for a day for the cause of true democracy. The party will not force anyone to close shops or businesses,” she added.
She said it was disturbing that teams of Lahore police had visited different markets and asked traders to open shops at 9am. She also said that the government did not trust the media and had decided to record the sit-ins through its own cameras.
Dr Yasmin said the PTI leadership was continuously receiving information that the PML-N was planning to send its activists with PTI flags to sit-in venues to create problems. She advised the government to learn lessons from the tragedy of Lahore Model Town, Islamabad, Jhelum and Faisalabad.
PTI’s Lahore President Abdul Aleem Khan said the party had specified 18 points for sit-ins but the number might increase. He said the city’s entry and exit would be closed early in the morning, but PTI workers would not resort to violence.
He accused the government of taking ‘unwise’ decisions, like keeping the educational institutions open, which would cause inconvenience to students and teachers. He said PTI workers would give way to ambulances and facilitate judges and doctors going to courts and hospitals.
He denied that the PTI had any plan to march on Jati Umra, the residence of the Sharif family. He announced that his workers would remain peaceful even if PML-N’s “Gullu Butts” attacked them.
But some PTI workers appeared to have been confused by Aleem Khan’s statement and said the party chairman had asked them to fight back if they were attacked.
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