Muhammad Zubair. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ain-e-Pakistan (TTAP) will conclude its three-day Sindh outreach on Sunday (today) with a multi-party conference in Karachi, although the organizers complain that all suitable venues were denied to them, leaving the Karachi Press Club as the only available option.
Former Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair said the conference, billed as an all-party conference, would be held at the Press Club “in preference to any other suitable venue”, following repeated refusals by the district administration to allow the use of halls or hotels for an opposition gathering.
TTAP leaders were in Sindh over the weekend as part of their February 8 mobilization campaign and spent Saturday in interior Sindh where they held a rally in Jamshoro.
According to the alliance’s leadership, their convoy was stopped several times before being allowed to continue, while rally participants were forced to leave roads that had been blocked by the provincial government.
During the tour, TTAP leaders met Qaumi Awami Tehreek chief Ayaz Latif Palijo, who formally announced his party’s decision to join the TTAP movement, according to spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain.
The Hyderabad leg of the visit concluded with a dinner hosted by a PTI MPA.
On Sunday, TTAP will participate in the multi-party conference together with opposition parties, prominent scholars, lawyers and media personalities.
Zubair Umar said that the Karachi Press Club was the only venue available despite the fact that there was insufficient space for a gathering of this scale.
He said securing a no-objection certificate (NOC) was mandatory for holding events in halls or hotels and obtaining an NOC for an opposition conference from the district administration was “out of the question”.
At one point, he added, it appeared even the press club venue might slip away after organizers were informed of a family event planned there.
Besides TTAP, which already includes major opposition parties like PTI, MWM, Awaam Pakistan and other regional parties, representatives of additional national and regional parties, economists, lawyers, women activists and media figures are expected to attend the event. TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain said a street mobilization plan was also under consideration, although no decision had yet been finalized.
Responding to reports that TTAP intended to open a secretariat in Punjab, he said nothing was decided so far.
However, a PTI office-bearer said the alliance was considering setting up a Punjab secretariat to further its mobilization efforts.
The official added that TTAP’s status as a relatively neutral platform gave it greater operational space compared to PTI, which he said remained constrained by infighting.
