TTAP claims several markets across country shut in support of strike call to protest 2024 poll ‘rigging’

The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan on Sunday claimed several markets in various cities across the country were shut in support of its strike call to protest alleged discrepancies in the 2024 general elections.

The PTI — a part of the TTAP — is also set to stage nationwide protests today to mark the second anniversary of the Feb 8, 2024 general elections, which it alleges were marred by rigging.

The party has also announced it will observe a mourning day following Friday’s suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad that claimed at least 36 lives.

PTI leader Asad Qaiser had told Dawn the party had neither postponed nor cancelled its protest programme. “The day will be observed as a National Day of Mourning and, at the same time, protests will be held across the country against rigging in the general election,” he said.

Qaiser said February 8 was not only about PTI founder Imran Khan and the party leadership. “It is a day on which the nation was deprived of democracy and the right to choose its representatives,” he said, adding that the party would hold protests and a shutter-down strike “with the masses” against the alleged electoral manipulation.

The TTAP and PTI shared purported visuals of shops shut in various cities, including KP’s Peshawar, Abbottabad, Balakot, Haripur, Bajaur, Upper Chitral and Lakki Marwat; Sindh’s Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Badin and Nawabshah; Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh; and Balochistan’s Quetta, Chaman, Zhob, and Kuchlak.

It also posted videos showing PTI workers and supporters gathered in KP’s Kohat, as well as Balochistan’s Nasirabad, Qila Saifullah, Chaman and Pishin.

KP

In KP, the PTI said it would hold rallies and processions at district and tehsil levels. Some traders and transport unions also agreed to join the party’s protest.

A Dawn correspondent reported a partial strike in the provincial capital’s interior city. Shops in Qissa Khwani Bazaar and other streets of the interior city were mostly open, but those in Hashtnagri and Rampura were closed.

PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan said in a post on X that there was a shutter-down strike in Haripur Bazaar and a “total public transport wheel jam”.

He expressed his gratitude to “all traders associations and transport associations of Haripur for their cooperation in showing solidarity” with TTAP’s call.

PTI district president Irfan Saleem said workers in Peshawar would gather in the Hashtnagri area around noon before marching through the city. He said a rally at Chowk Yadgar would be addressed by party leaders.

PTI KP Deputy Information Secretary Ikram Khatana said that party’s Peshawar chapter would arrange a demonstration at Chowk Yadgar in the afternoon. Seating arrangement and panaflex boards could be seen at the venue, with PTI banners hanging in front of closed shops.

He said that party workers would gather at Hashtnagri Chowk around 12pm and later march through Rampura Bazaar to reach Chowk Yadgar.

Besides, he said that all the district chapters across the province would arrange events.

In Okara, police arrested 30 PTI workers ahead of Sunday’s protests.

PTI’s Mehr Abdul Sattar was detained for seven days under the MPO Ordinance. Police also raided the house of PTI-backed MNA Usama Hamza in Gojra, but he was not found.

Punjab

In Punjab, the PTI said it would observe a “silent agitation” by urging people to stay home and keep bazaars and transport shut voluntarily as part of a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike to express their resentment against a “Form-47 government that stole people’s mandate”.

The PTI’s Lahore chapter claimed on X at 11:45am that police had reached Sujawal Bridge in Sadiqabad to force people to open their shops.

PTI Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza Malik had urged people to suspend outdoor activity and stay home as a form of protest. She also called for torch-bearing rallies after Maghrib prayers at the union council level.

Party leaders in the province also criticised police raids and arrests of workers on Saturday, alleging harassment of families during search operations.

Islamabad, Rawalpindi

Meanwhile, most of the markets in the federal capital remained open on Sunday as traders did not heed the PTI’s strike call.

These included the main markets in different sectors and sub-sectors of the city.

While Sunday Bazaars act as a litmus test for such calls by political parties, the H-9 weekly bazaar remained open. A Dawn correspondent reported that a large number of people were visiting the weekly bazaar.

Fawad Khan, a PTI supporter who was selling garments, said that he and other traders cannot afford to close their shops.

“We are already hand-to-mouth, and I cannot starve my family. I am a follower of Imran Khan and even voted for his candidate, but I cannot afford to close the stall,” he said.

Muhammad Faiq, a resident who had come for shopping, said that although they have sympathy for PTI, it was not possible for him to remain limited to his house on a Sunday.

“I get only one day in a week to purchase grocery and I must do it,” he said.

However, resident Muhammad Danish said that all the political parties were the same and they never cared about the masses.

“When PTI was in power, they did not care about the masses and Imran Khan has been facing charges that he sold the [state] gifts. He used to give examples of different premiers that they come to office on bicycles but he himself travelled on a helicopter to go to office,” he said.

“No one, including the establishment, cares about Pakistan; otherwise, we would not be suffering and facing such a situation,” he lamented.

PTI Islamabad President Amir Mughal had said the party would combine the protest with mourning activities.

While no protest was reported in Rawalpindi as of 11am, local administration and police were alert and patrolling the city to handle any violent agitation.

Bus service has suspended; though traffic on the roads was reported to be the same as usual.

Sindh

PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh shared pictures, saying that Jackson Electronics Market was among the bazaars shut in Karachi’s Keamari district.

The PTI’s Karachi chapter also claimed that markets in Safoora Town, North Nazimabad, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Model Town and Malir were shut by traders to record their protest silently.

In another post, Sheikh contended, “This strike is not just a strike, it’s a referendum! Today’s nationwide strike has set a new precedent.

“Historically, strikes in this province were enforced with sticks, threats, roadblocks, burning tyres, even bullets and arson.”

He added, “This may be the first strike in Pakistan’s history where workers were not on the streets — yet the public itself shut everything down. That is not a strike; that is a referendum.”

Balochistan

In a post, the TTAP said its workers had “blocked all roads” in Balochistan’s Loralai and Harnai. Tyres were also burned to block the road near Duki’s Eidgah Chowk, it said.

Additional input from Irfan Raza