Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi reached the Karachi Toll Plaza early on Monday, concluding his mobilization campaign in Sindh ahead of the Sept. 27 nationwide protest call seeking the hospitalization and release of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Afridi and his convoy of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters were originally supposed to proceed to the Mazar-e-Quaid for a rally, but cancelled that plan and staged a rally at the Toll Plaza after alleging barriers to their movement by the Sindh government to either stop or delay their travel.
The PTI commenced its mobilization campaign in Sindh on Sept. 3 from Rahim Yar Khan. During his visit, he has led caravans in Larkana, Hyderabad and Umerkot, among other cities of the province. Afridi and his delegation, including PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, have been accompanied by PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh and other party leaders.
While Afridi initially praised the PPP Sindh government for facilitating the movement of his convoy, on Sunday evening he alleged provincial authorities were creating hurdles to his movement. “If we cannot reach Karachi today, God willing, we will hold the rally tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then the day after. I will not take a single step out of Sindh without launching a street movement in Karachi. I will stay here until the objective is achieved,” he told a rally in Hyderabad.
He also criticized Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for a controversial statement on terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Demanding an apology for it, he questioned why she found greater threat from within her own country rather than from across the border in India.
Afridi called on the nation’s youth to join the PTI’s protest movement, maintaining he was ready to lay down his life for the “cause.”
According to PTI Sindh spokesperson Muhammad Ali Baloch, the provincial government had placed containers, vehicles and other barriers along the route leading to Mazar-e-Quaid, preventing the party from reaching the venue. To avoid this, he said, PTI workers had gathered at the Toll Plaza, where the party had prepared a stage and a truck for a rally. In a statement, Karachi District East police said “no public gatherings, rallies or processions will be allowed around Mazar-e-Quaid.”
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, meanwhile, said the PTI was welcome to the city but would not be permitted to violate law. He said the placing of containers and road blockades were a routine occurrence for a large political gathering.