Federal Ministers Attaullah Tarar and Engineer Amir Maqam have alleged that attendees at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf recent rally were forced to participate, accusing the opposition party of using unethical tactics to fill their event.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, the ministers criticised the opposition, particularly the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, for his use of provocative language at the rally.
Amir Maqam claimed that public resources were misused for the gathering, and that the opposition’s rhetoric is focused on threats rather than solutions for the nation.
He further stated that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders were involved in internal conflicts over corruption, leading to a disconnect with the public.
He highlighted the disrespectful remarks directed at Maryam Nawaz during the rally, calling it an affront to the nation’s traditions.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar reiterated that Pashtun traditions of respect for women were violated at the event and condemned the opposition for failing to address critical issues like terrorism. He also pointed to PTI’s governance failures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, criticising their inability to launch a single major project during their tenure.
Both ministers concluded by stating that the rally had been a failure and urged PTI to shift its focus towards serving the people of the province.
Earlier, Attaullah Tarar asserted that the public had rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally on Sunday.
In a statement regarding the PTI event, he noted that traffic in Islamabad and Punjab remained normal, questioning the whereabouts of the millions of people who were supposed to bring about a revolution.
He criticised PTI for using fake videos to promote their rally and accused the party of employing false and fabricated tweets to conceal the event’s failure.
He claimed that the PTI engaged in spreading false information and propaganda on social media.
On Sunday, after a long gap, Imran Khan’s beleaguered party finally managed to hold a massive rally in Islamabad amid clashes with the capital’s police which left dozens of policemen and PTI workers injured.
However, ahuthorities had turned Islamabad literally into a walled city with shipping containers blocking all the roads linking it to neighboring Rawalpindi in anticipation of the rally and over 6,000 personnel of police and the Frontier Constabulary (FC) manning the routes.
A day before the PTI’s 8 September rally, the PML-N led federal government had brought a new piece of legislation Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024 to regulate permissions for public gatherings and stiffen up the punishments against violators.
The recent Islamabad rally too was held after court intervention.
Despite these obstacles, a large number of PTI workers reached the rally which was addressed by a number of PTI and opposition parties’ leaders.
More than 40 operational vehicles from Rescue 1122, including ambulances and fire trucks, were dispatched from Khyber Pakhtunklhkwa to Islamabad, with videos surfacing of the vehicles arriving in Swabi.
In addition to the ambulances and fire vehicles, cranes, excavators, and disaster response vehicles have also been requested for potential use at the rally, particularly to clear blocked routes.
