Daily Times

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was on Monday granted permission to hold its rally on May 12 at the Hakeem Saeed Ground in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) local leadership insisted that the party would hold its rally on May 12at the same venue.

Both parties had mentioned Hakeem Saeed Ground as the venue of their rallies on May 12 in applications sent to the district commissioner’s office.

Despite the fact that it has yet to be granted permission, PTI has already set up a camp at the ground to make arrangements for the rally.

A PPP delegation led by Senator Saeed Ghani visited the venue on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “PTI and MQM were in cahoots but we will hold a huge jalsa on May 12. PTI know that it won’t be able to match the numbers so it is resorting to these tactics to sabotage our jalsa. They won’t be successful in their malicious designs,” he said.

Ghani said his party had submitted a formal request for the jalsa at the venue to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office on May 3. “We have done all our preparations for holding the rally at the venue and, therefore we cannot change the location at the last moment,” he said, “We could have done something if PTI reached out to us earlier, but now all preparations are complete.”

Ghani further shared that he had spoken to PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry and explained to him that there should be ‘no chaos’ on May 12. “I have asked PTI leaders to decide themselves who is being unfair in this case,” he said.

The deputy commissioner also confirmed that the PTI had not sought permission for the venue and that the PPP’s application had been received on the evening of May 4.

Meanwhile, PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman said that the party would proceed with its rally as planned and it would be held at the Hakeem Ground on May 12 at any cost.

“PPP is using force to suppress political activities,” Khurram said.

Published in Daily Times, May 8^th 2018.