Junaid Akbar was elected unopposed chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in January 2025. Photo: Express/ Archive
PESHAWAR:
The PTI has announced that it will observe November 26 as a ‘Black Day’ to mark one year since the party’s protest in Islamabad turned violent.
The former ruling party opted not to hold a major nationwide rally and instead ordered workers to organize regional protests for the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan.
In a message posted on social media, PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa president Junaid Akbar said the party’s regional organizations had been instructed to organize district-level rallies.
He said members of the national and provincial assemblies should visit the homes of workers who died during last year’s unrest and express solidarity with their families.
Akbar added that the PTI will hold a Quran recitation in Hayatabad, Peshawar, followed by a protest meeting.
He said the party leadership had decided that instead of organizing a huge protest at the national level, workers should mobilize at the district level as part of their strategy to mark the day.
The November 26 protest organized by the PTI, which triggered a wide round of arrests, was aimed at pressuring the government to release Imran Khan. The Islamabad administration detained several PTI workers, alleging security threats and violations of public order.
The rally, which drew thousands to the capital under the leadership of Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and former KP chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, quickly descended into clashes with security forces.
According to the FIR lodged after the event, protesters armed with guns, stones and batons attacked police and Rangers personnel.
