PTI’s Lahore Power Show Gets Green Light with 43 Conditions

 Imran says people should not be afraid of going to jail,

Lahore_(Tahir Chudary)The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been granted permission to hold a rally in Lahore tomorrow, September 21, after the Lahore High Court intervened. The rally, which has been termed a “do-or-die” situation by PTI founder Imran Khan, will take place at Kahna on Ring Road, instead of the initially planned Minar-e-Pakistan venue.

The Lahore district administration set 43 conditions for the rally, including fixing a time limit from 3 pm to 6 pm. KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur will lead the central convoy from Swabi to Lahore. Among the conditions, Gandapur must publicly apologize for his vitriol during the Islamabad Jalsa on September 8.

Other conditions include no anti-state or anti-institution sloganeering, no Afghan flags or paid manpower allowed, and no proclaimed offenders can participate or appear on stage. The PTI had been negotiating with the Lahore DC over the timing, pushing for an extension to 11 pm. However, the final draft of the SOPs has not been issued yet.

Preparations for the rally are underway, with containers and heavy police deployments on the KP-Punjab border. The KP chief minister will use a container for traveling to Lahore rally’s venue from Swabi. Gandapur will also address PTI workers in the central convoy in Swabi before departing to Lahore.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government plans to arrest around 3,700 suspects, wanted in connection with May 9 mayhem cases, during the rally. The authorities have compiled data on wanted individuals using Safe City cameras and formed special teams to identify and arrest them using artificial intelligence and other technologies.

Earlier,

PTI founder Imran Khan has expressed optimism about the success of his party’s rally in Lahore, slated for tomorrow (Saturday), saying that holding the event is a do-or-die situation.

The former ruling party is hardwired to hold a public gathering in the capital city of Punjab in the face of any obstacles the government can put in place.

The ousted prime minister, while speaking to reporters at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Thursday, said that the nation would come out to attend the rally regardless of any situation they face.

“I have been in jail for 15 months and ready to stay in jail even more. People should not be afraid of going to jail,” he said, adding that he had been telling the party for 28 years to follow the Constitution.

“The Constitution gives us the right to assemble. I ask the nation to come out for their future on September 21 in Lahore. The Supreme Court is the last institution from which people have expectations. If the Supreme Court is also destroyed, Pakistan will become a banana republic,” he added.

The cricketer-turned-politician also said there should have been a full discussion on the proposed amendments to the Constitution, adding that the intention behind the amendments in the dark of the night was now known.

“To destroy the Supreme Court is to destroy democracy, and to destroy democracy is to destroy freedom. When freedom is destroyed, people become slaves,” he said.

He said people have been jailed for a year without trial, while three umpires are being granted extensions through constitutional amendments. The future of Pakistan is linked to investment, and no one would invest in Pakistan except Pakistanis living abroad, he added.

“Zardari and Nawaz Sharif ran out twice, and now they will run out again, everyone knows that their money is lying outside,” Khan added.

“During our government, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) collected Rs480 billion and Rs1,100 billion were to be collected more. They were given to NRO-2, and now NAB is left only to take revenge,” he said.

The jailed PTI leader went on to question the source of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s income, claiming that the security czar had five million dollars lying abroad.

He said that Naqvi had justified money laundering.