Gandapur, Gohar Lead Pti conveyed to Lahore while Party mobilizes the protest disc

A high-level convoy led by the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur, and the president of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI), lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, arrived in Lahore on Saturday, indicating what party officials described as the start of a renewed political movement.

The visit occurred in the middle of an increased police presence, arrests of party workers and degeneration of tensions with the Punjab government.

The convoy, which left Islamabad earlier during the day, arrived at the Raiwind Road farm, of the former deputy president of the Senate, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, located near the Sharif family estate in Lahore. A dinner and strategic meetings of PTI parliamentary committees were planned on the site.

According to party initiates, discussions should focus on planning protests and legislative responses to the recent suspension of the PTI legislators of the Punjab Assembly. Given the dominant political climate in Punjab and KP, Reunion is considered to be politically significant. Discussions should also address the future political strategy and the potential for alliances between regional power blocks.

The arrival of the convoy to Shahdara Morr met with a heaviness of the Punjab police. According to PTI sources, the police arrested four party workers, including the TICket engineer based in Lahore, Yasir Gilani. Although Gilani was released later, the arrests fueled new accusations of political harassment by the management of the PTI. Access to the media on the site has been restricted and a press interaction provided would have been canceled due to security problems.

Addressing supporters before departure, Gandapur said that the convoy symbolized peaceful solidarity with the 26 suspended PTI legislators. “It is not a demonstration in the conventional sense, but a democratic demonstration of unity,” he said. “We bring with us a message of peace, fraternity and constitutional respect.”

He added that his government had officially informed the Punjab administration of their plans and their travel routes. “Our elected representatives are silenced through unconstitutional and undemocratic tactics,” said Gandapur. “Political arrests will not derail our determination to maintain democratic values and public law to representation.”

Earlier in Jhelum, Gandapur said that leadership was forming a roadmap to maintain the movement at least on August 5. “We want a consensus by the consultation. Our leaders and the workers are in prison, but our commitment remains unshakable,” he said.

Meanwhile, the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, said that any announcement concerning the protest campaign would come directly from the founder of the Imran Khan party. He said that Lahore’s visit was intended to meet party legislators and finalize the future orientation of the movement within the law.

The head of the opposition of the Punjab assembly, Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, welcomed the convoy to a video message, calling it a “symbolic awakening” of Punjab. “The inhabitants of Lahore are on the street to welcome their leaders,” he said. “The use of force by the government to suppress this peaceful demonstration is unacceptable – even under authoritarian regimes.”

Bhachar warned that PTI is ready to launch sit-in if they are obstructed and have condemned what he described as an increasing political repression under the administration of chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The backdrop of this political mobilization is the suspension of June 27 of 26 PTI legislators, following their protest during the address of Maryam Nawaz in the Assembly of Punjab. Since then, thousands of PTI workers have been arrested or charged while the party has increased its opposition to the policies of the provincial government and what it calls the “mandate of form 47”.

“PTI has now officially launched its protest movement,” said Bhachar. “Raids are underway through Punjab, and we are not afraid of these arrests. Our central and parliamentary parties of KP and Punjab meet in Lahore to finalize our action plan. ”