Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Thursday urged political leaders and workers to take to the streets and observe a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike, while talking to reporters outside Imran’s Zaman Park residence.
A TTAP delegation, led by Achakzai, departed from Islamabad to Lahore earlier today as part of the opposition’s “street movement” to hold political and social gatherings in the provincial capital.
“Slogans alone will not help release PTI founder Imran Khan from jail, but people rising up on February 8 and bringing the country to a standstill will,” he said.
The TTAP chief — flanked by Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Moeen Riaz Qureshi — was speaking to the media after the arrival of the opposition alliance’s caravan in Lahore.
They faced obstacles such as interference by law enforcement agencies, vandalism of vehicles belonging to party leaders and supporters, and even arrests.
Achakzai said people from Bajaur to KP should come out on the roads on Febuary 8 and participate in the ‘Aman March’, holding black flags to show that they have come out to end oppression and fascism in the country.
He stressed that those who cannot join the rallies should sit in their streets as a mark of protest.
Acknowledging that the police allowed the caravan to reach Lahore, Achakzai urged them to act in the interest of Pakistan and not to satisfy the “ego of one person or family”.
“Obey orders that are aligned with the law,” he stressed, lamenting that it was wrong to attack people for raising slogans.
Answering a question about the dialogue process, Achakzai said the path to dialogue would open when the country shuts down on Feb 8.
“Whom should we engage in dialogue with? They (federal government) snatched our mandate, the courts snatched the PTI’s election symbol, and sentenced political leaders and workers to 10 to 20 years in jail,” he said.
“We have come to Lahore, urging people to join hands, to end the oppression being unleashed against innocent people in the country,” Achakzai added.
“We are not against [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif or [President] Asif Zardari, but we stand against those political parties and state institutions desecrating the Constitution of Pakistan,” he said.
He also regretted that the party, which raised slogans “roti, kapra aur makan” (bread, clothes and a home) was “busy damaging the Constitution through the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments”.
“Now people are not getting food, farmers are not getting the due price of their produce, and investors and youth are running out of the country,” the TTAP chief lamented.
Stating that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had also marched on GT Road and raised the slogan “vote ko izzat do” (respect the vote), Achakzai urged the Sharif family to come out on the roads and raise this slogan again.
The TTAP chairman said the country would be saved and progress would be made when the Constitution of Pakistan is restored and justice is dispensed.
Abbas said that no justice could be dispensed without restoring the rule of law in the country. He lamented that the government had ruined departments and institutions, and added that he saw lawlessness displayed on the GT Road while travelling to Lahore.
“The incumbent rulers wanted to prolong their rule by terrorising people,” he claimed, adding that people should stand against oppression and “defeat the fascists”.
“We have come out on the roads to save the country from the fascists,” he said.
PTI Punjab chief organiser Aliya Hamza Malik has instructed the party’s lawyers wing to lodge first information reports against police raids, which violated people’s privacy in their homes and damaged property, including vehicles in police stations.
TTAP convoy reaches Lahore
The TTAP convoy entered Lahore earlier today, with the alliance claiming that several of its workers were detained by the Punjab police.
“Despite all the fascism, oppression and barbarism, the caravan of the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan has successfully reached Lahore,” PTI’s Punjab chapter said on X at 7:32pm.
In a subsequent post, it said the convoy was heading towards the Zaman Park residence of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, where Achakzai and TTAP Senior Vice-Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas were expected to address the media.
“The Lahore administration has placed containers to shut off [routes to] Data Darbar,” the TTAP said on X.
Workers taken into custody, cars vandalised: TTAP
At 3:34pm, the TTAP claimed “dozens” of workers of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) — a part of the alliance — were arrested in Lahore, including Senior Vice President Syed Hussain Kazmi.
Dawn has reached out to the police for a comment on TTAP’s claims of PTI and MWM workers being arrested.
The PTI, in a statement condemning the “fascism and oppression by the Punjab police”, also claimed that “multiple members of delegations present peacefully along the route of the caravan” were being taken into custody.
“Peaceful citizens and party workers, who are unarmed and pose no threat of any kind, are being subjected to extremely brutal behaviour by the fascist police acting on political orders,” it alleged.
The party further said that the vehicles of its MPAs Malik Fahad, Tanveer Aslam Raja and Sardar Muhammad Ali were vandalised at Kharian.
“Our ticket holders, organisational officials and workers were arrested at the location of Gujar Khan,” the PTI statement further said.
Shortly before noon, the TTAP alleged that the Punjab police had arrested “several” PTI workers and had taken action against its camp in Rawalpindi’s Gujar Khan.
It also shared videos showing a police van from the Gujar Khan station and men in police attire carrying batons.
In its statement, the PTI also alleged that late-night raids were being carried out on the residences of its workers in Lahore, “as a result of which, worker Rashid Yousuf Jan lost his life during a raid in the area of Hanjarwal”.
The PTI demanded that all “unjustly arrested” individuals be immediately released and that those responsible for these “unconstitutional and illegal actions” be held accountable.
The TTAP also claimed that Senator Abbas’s son was taken into custody.
“Right after the arrest, police officials expressed ignorance and took the stance that he was not in their custody,” the statement added.
However, a Gujranwala police official denied the arrest.
He told Dawn that Abbas’s son was “stopped for questioning when a car of a PTI rally hit a police constable”, but was then allowed to go ahead.
PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser strongly condemned the vandalism of the TTAP convoy’s vehicles by “masked individuals”, terming the Punjab government “fascist”.
“In our opinion, Mian sahib (Nawaz Sharif), who used to harp on about democracy and consider himself a champion of democracy, [why] is he silent on this?” Qaiser asked, adding that Achakzai was among the PML-N president’s “old friends”.
PTI Punjab chief organiser Aliya Hamza Malik, in a statement, urged party lawyers to get first information reports (FIRs) registered over the vandalism incidents and “invasion of privacy” through raids.
In a post, the PTI said: “Protesters were first surrounded and stopped, vehicles were attacked, windshields were broken, and when a peaceful protest was staged, violence was perpetrated against unarmed citizens.”
It also shared multiple videos, one of which showed at least six cars whose back windshields were damaged.
The PTI said the “direct responsibility of this action lies with Punjab’s TikToker chief minister and the government elements involved with her”.
‘Setting out to end oppression and cruelty’
A post by the TTAP on X at around 11am said that the delegation led by Achakzai had left for Lahore.
In a video before his departure to Lahore, Achakzai said, “We are not going to Lahore to conquer, curse at anyone or throw rocks at them; our slogan is that we are setting out to end oppression and cruelty.”
Achakzai, who has been nominated as the next opposition leader in the National Assembly, called on the public to stand with the opposition against a Parliament “thrust upon” Pakistan.
The TTAP chief stressed that the country was suffering from “endless issues because of ill-intended decisions”.
“The government itself knows that it is invalid,” Achakzai said.
“In this regard, the TTAP has appealed to people from all walks of life to protest on Feb 8 and come stand with us,” he said, calling on people to “close their shops, rickshaws, and taxis”.
“We are starting a peaceful movement and we are here to end oppression,” he reiterated.
Standing alongside Achakzai was the opposition leader of the Punjab Assembly, Moeen Qureshi, who extended his welcome to the TTAP chief.
“There are a lot of MPAs present here who will accompany Achakzai sahib to Lahore,” he said.
He warned Punjab authorities against treating the TTAP delegation the same way as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was treated during his visit to Lahore last month.
He also reiterated that the movement would be peaceful.
When the TTAP leaders reached Jhelum at around 1:30pm, Senator Abbas spoke to workers there and alleged that the people’s mandate had been stolen in the 2024 elections.
“There is economic exploitation now […] and the political crisis is intensifying. We have taken to the streets to end cruelty, […] for the fundamental rights of the people, for the poor, labourers, unemployed and farmers and for all those who are oppressed,“ he said, standing alongside Achakzai.
The senator said the alliance would take to the streets against “cruelty” across the country on February 8.
Malik, in a post on X in the morning, said that her party would accord a “grand welcome” to the TTAP members at nine locations along GT Road.
“This peaceful struggle is a struggle for the Constitution and the law,” the PTI’s Punjab chief organiser wrote.
In a post on TTAP’s X account, the alliance’s spokesperson, Hussain Yousafzai, termed the visit a “practice match for the larger movement”.
Yousafzai voiced optimism that the visit would give “hope to the PTI workers in Punjab”.
At a recent national conference organised by the TTAP alliance, KP CM Afridi had announced the observation of a “black day” at the national and international levels on Feb 8, which will mark the second anniversary of the general elections under which the existing parliament has been functioning.
The conference had also highlighted the need for a new Charter of Democracy — agreeing that the option of talks should never be closed — and put forth demands including an “independent” judiciary and election commission, as well as the release of “political prisoners”, which it believed were necessary for restoring stability in the country.
Meanwhile, as proposals for talks between the government and the opposition remain in limbo, a clique of politicians — under the banner of the ‘National Dialogue Committee’ (NDC) — on Wednesday called for the release of all political prisoners to reduce acrimony and pave the way for reconciliation.
