Mohammed Zubair. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ain-e-Pakistan (TTAP) will conclude its three-day awareness campaign in Sindh on Sunday (today) with an all-party conference in Karachi, even as the organizers complain that all suitable venues have been denied to them, leaving the Karachi Press Club as the only available option.
Former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair said the conference, which is being billed as an all-party conference, would be held at the press club “for lack of any other suitable venue”, after repeated refusals by the district administration to allow use of halls or hotels for an opposition rally.
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 alliance leaders, their convoy was stopped several times before being allowed to continue, while rally participants were forced to leave roads blocked by the provincial government.
During the tour, TTAP leaders met with Qaumi Awami Tehreek leader Ayaz Latif Palijo, who officially announced his party’s decision to join the TTAP movement, according to spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain.
The leg of the visit to Hyderabad ended with a dinner offered at the residence of a PTI MPA.
On Sunday, TTAP will participate in the all-party conference alongside opposition parties, prominent academics, lawyers and media figures.
Zubair Umar said the Karachi Press Club was the only venue available, although it lacked enough space for a gathering of this scale.
He said obtaining a no-objection certificate (NOC) was mandatory for organizing events at halls or hotels, and getting a NOC for an objection conference from the district administration was “out of the question”.
At one point, he added, it appeared that even the press club might disappear after organizers were informed about scheduling a family event.
Apart from TTAP, which already includes major opposition parties such as PTI, MWM, Awaam Pakistan and other regional parties, representatives of other national and regional parties, economists, lawyers, activists and media personalities are expected to attend the event. TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain said a street mobilization plan was also being considered, although no decision had yet been finalized.
Responding to reports that TTAP was planning to open a secretariat in Punjab, he said nothing had been decided so far.
However, a PTI official said the alliance was considering setting up a Punjab secretariat to take forward its mobilization campaign.
The official added that TTAP’s status as a relatively neutral platform afforded it greater operational space compared to the PTI, which he said remained constrained by internal struggles.
