Gandapur, Gohar leads the convoy PTI to Lahore while the party mobilizes the protest unit

LAHORE:

A high profile convoy led by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur, and Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI), lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, arrived in Lahore on Saturday, pointing out what party officials described as the beginning of a renewed political movement.

The visit occurred in the middle of a greater police presence, arrests of party workers and increasing tensions with the Punjab government.

The convoy, who left Islamabad earlier in the day, arrived at the Raiwind Road farm of the former attachment of the Senate Mirza Mirza Muhammad Afridi, located near the state of the Sharif family in Lahore. A dinner and strategic meetings of PTI parliamentary committees were scheduled.

According to party experts, discussions were expected to focus on protest planning and legislative responses to the recent suspension of PTI legislators of the Punjab Assembly. Given the predominant political climate both in Punjab and KP, the meeting is considered politically significant. Conversations are also expected to address the future political strategy and the potential of alliances between regional power blocks.

The arrival of the convoy to Shahdara Morr found a great deployment of the Punjab police. According to PTI sources, the officers arrested four party workers, including the ticket holders engineer based in Lahore Yasir Gilani. Although Gilani was released later, arrests fed new accusations of political harassment by PTI’s leadership. Access to the media to the site was restricted and a scheduled press interaction was canceled due to security concerns.

Going to the supporters before the game, Gandapur said that the convoy symbolized peaceful solidarity with the 26 suspended PTI legislators. “This is not a protest in the conventional sense, but a democratic unity sample,” he said. “We bring with us a message of peace, brotherhood and constitutional respect.”

He added that his government had formally notified the Punjab administration of his plans and travel route. “Our chosen representatives are being silenced through unconstitutional and anti -democratic tactics,” Gandapur said. “Political arrests will not derail our resolution to defend democratic values and public’s right to representation.”

Previously in Jhelum, Gandapur declared that leadership was formulating a road map to maintain movement until at least August 5. “We want consensus through consultation. Our leadership and workers are in jail, but our commitment remains unwavering,” he said.

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

The opposition leader of the Punjab Assembly, Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachaha, welcomed the convoy in a video message, calling him a “symbolic awakening” of Punjab. “The people of Lahore are on the streets to welcome their leaders,” he said. “The use of government force to suppress this peaceful manifestation is unacceptable, even under authoritarian regimes.”

Bhachar warned that PTI is prepared to launch sitting if it is obstructed, and condemned what he described as a growing political repression under the administration of Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The context of this political mobilization is the suspension of June 27, 26 PTI legislators, after its protest during Maryam Nawaz’s speech to the Punjab Assembly. Since then, thousands of PTI workers have been arrested or accused as the party increases its opposition to the policies of the provincial government and what it calls the “mandate of form 47”.

“PTI has now formally launched its protest movement,” Bhachaha said. “The raids are underway in Punjab, and we are not afraid of these arrests. Our central leadership and the parliamentary parties of KP and Punjab meet in Lahore to end our course of action.”