–Party leaders say that civil admin working as sycophant of govt
–Punjab CM inaugurates National History Museum located at the venue
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has warned the administration of Lahore on Tuesday not to disrupt the public gathering of the party that is due at the historical Minar-e-Pakistan in the metropolitan on April 29.
As per the details, PTI has firmly decided to hold its power show at Minar-e-Pakistan at any cost while rejecting all other options that include changing the venue of gathering from Minar-e-Pakistan to Nasir Bagh – a designated place for holding political rallies and processions. A high-level meeting was chaired by PTI’s Central Punjab President Abdul Aleem Khan on Tuesday in which it was decided that the party would hold the public gathering at the same place where the Lahore Resolution was passed some on March 23, 1940 that ultimately paved the way for the creation of Pakistan on 1947.
“The government machinery should not take any sort of pressure from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as we assure the administration that not even a single plant of the historical Minar-e-Pakistan would be damaged during our public gathering as PTI believes in the rule of law,” Aleem Khan said, adding that it is the democratic right of every political party to disseminate its message among the masses through public processions and PTI is also doing the same.
“The administration of Lahore should make arrangements to provide foolproof security to the participants of our public gathering instead of behaving like sycophant of the incumbent government that is now a guest of just a few days as the days of rulers have been numbered and no one can now stop the apparent change that is coming in our country under the leadership of Imran Khan,” he added.
Talking to Pakistan Today, MPA Shoaib Siddiqui, who attended the party meeting, said that Khan would address a large public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan on April 29 from where he laid the foundation of a “new Pakistan” some seven years ago by holding a mammoth public gathering that rewrote the political history of the country on October 30, 2011.
“That political gathering of PTI jolted the Takht-e-Raiwind of the Sharif dynasty in 2011 and now the procession of PTI at the same venue would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of Sharif brothers who have been ruling the province for decades,” he said.
On Monday, Lahore’s deputy commissioner asked the PTI leadership to shift the venue from Minar-e-Pakistan to Nasir Bagh because holding political gatherings at Minar-e-Pakistan are banned because the Greater Iqbal Park (Mianr-e-Pakistan) is a part of national heritage and Cabinet Committee of Law and Order has already prohibited political gatherings at the venue. It is important to note that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) led by Dr Ashraf Asif Jalali had organised public gatherings at the same venue just a few days ago smoothly without the intervention of the government despite the fact that Section 144 was imposed at the Greater Iqbal Park in November 2016 when the Nasir Bagh was designated for public gatherings.
The Greater Iqbal Park, the only thematic park of the country with glimpses of Pakistan’s history and independence movement, consists of an area of more than 127 acres. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also inaugurated the National History Museum located in the Greater Iqbal Park on Tuesday just a few days before the planned public gathering of PTI in order to give a message that political gatherings are banned at the park.
