LAHORE: After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan announced the rally yesterday, the district administration of Lahore refused to give permission for today.
Deputy Commissioner Lahore said that because of the cricket match today rally cannot be allowed, it is a very sensitive day because of the cricket match and the movement of the team.
He said that if PTI does not postpone the rally, there will be no other option but the implementation of Section 144.
Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday announced leading his party’s election rally himself tomorrow (Sunday) in Lahore at 2pm as he castigated the authorities for “killing” his party worker.
The general elections in Punjab are scheduled to be held on April 30, while the date for the polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is yet to be announced as Governor Ghulam Ali has not made a decision yet.
“I will lead the election rally to show them that we are not domesticated animals,” the former prime minister — who was ousted in April last year — told his party workers during his address via video link.
This would be the first rally that Khan would lead in more than four months as he was mobilising the party from his Zaman Park residence in Punjab’s capital. The PTI chief had been at home as he was “recovering” from an injury he sustained last year.
Khan was shot in the legs on November 3 as he waved to crowds from a truck-mounted container while leading a protest march to Islamabad to pressure the government into announcing an early election — but it was cut short in Rawalpindi.
Speaking to his party workers, Khan said that the “powerful” segments want to get the upcoming general elections in Punjab and KP cancelled at all costs.
“They would try to get the polls cancelled by assassinating him or bomb blasts […] I know that they will do something to stop the election,” the PTI chairman added.
The PTI planned on holding its rally on Wednesday, but the interim Punjab government imposed Section 144 (banning public gatherings) in light of “security threats” — resulting in a clash between police and the party’s workers.
