Muhammad Zubair. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
LAHORE:
Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ain-e-Pakistan (TTAP) will conclude its three-day campaign in Sindh on Sunday (today) with a multi-party conference in Karachi, even as organizers complain that they were denied all suitable venues, 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 “for want of another suitable venue”, after repeated refusals by the district administration to allow the use of halls or hotels for an opposition meeting.
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 protest 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 at the residence of a PTI MPA.
On Sunday, TTAP will participate in the multi-party conference along with opposition parties, eminent academicians, lawyers and media personalities.
Zubair Umar said the Karachi Press Club was the only venue available, despite lacking sufficient space for a meeting of this scale.
He said obtaining 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 question”.
At one point, he added, it looked like even the Press Club location might disappear after organizers were informed that a family event was being scheduled there.
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, women activists and media figures 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 made.
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 secretariat in Punjab to advance its mobilization drive.
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.
