The PTI and the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Friday staged demonstrations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab in protest of the 27th Constitutional Amendment and the mistreatment of PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
Concurrently, the PTI and TTAP staged a protest in Karachi, where police detained about half a dozen people to prevent them from moving towards the demonstration’s scheduled venue.
In KP, the demonstrations were staged on the directives of the PTI’s KP President Junaid Akbar, after the TTAP made the decision to march. They were held at the district level, where charged PTI workers chanted slogans against institutions while holding portraits of the party founder.
In Peshawar, dozens of PTI workers held a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club, which was addressed by Provincial Minister for Local Government Meena Khan Afridi, Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Sher Ali Arbab and the PTI’s Peshawar district president Irfan Saleem.
In his speech, Afridi said that Imran has presented two options to the leadership of TTAP.
“The first option is to hold negotiations with the powers that be to sort out all outstanding issues,” he said, adding that if the negotiations failed, the second option would be peaceful protest across the country.
He assailed the powers of immunity granted through the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which defines that the president and military leadership cannot be prosecuted.
“Immunity is un-Islamic, unethical and in violation of traditions,” he said.
“The 1973 Constitution was a social contract between the masses, the state, government and institutions, which ended with the 27th Constitutional Amendment.”
He urged the Insaf Lawyers Forum to challenge the 27th Amendment and stage a protest against it with the support of the public.
Saleem added that the party’s struggle for the supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and human rights would not stop till achieving their goals.
He slammed security agencies for allegedly detaining Pashtoon Tahafuz Movement (PTM) workers following the conclusion of the grand jirga at the KP Assembly on November 12.
“Only the elected people have the right to rule Pakistan, while those imposed on the nation have no rights and are ruling the country illegally.”
Demonstrations in KP’s districts
In Swabi, PTI workers claimed that the incumbent federal government has been working for the establishment since coming to power through a fraudulent election.
The party staged a protest on Swabi-Jahangira road in Tordhir against the 27th Constitutional Amendment, claiming that it was passed to strengthen “powerful personalities” instead of common people.
Speaking on the occasion, MNA Shahram Khan Tarakai said that terrorists have never been tried in the courts of Islamabad, but PTI leaders have been tried there to stop them from serving the people.
Meanwhile, in Mohmand’s Mian Mandi Bazar, PTI workers staged a large protest against the recently-passed Amendment, calling it a “direct assault on Pakistan’s constitution, judicial subjugation and extension scheme”.
Party workers, led by district leaders including MNA Sajid Khan and MPA Muhammad Israr, waved black flags and chanted “Withdraw the 27th Amendment” and “Long Live the Constitution”.
“The 27th Amendment is a dangerous conspiracy against the nation’s constitution. It was passed to block the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf from the elections,” claimed MNA Khan.
MPA Israr said in his address, “The mistreatment of Imran Khan’s sisters the day before yesterday is beyond tolerance. The establishment wants to completely dismantle the PTI. “
He added that through Form 47, the rulers are stripping away judicial independence and hollowing out national institutions.
In Battagram, the PTI, led by Battagram chapter president Niaz Muhammad Khan Trand, staged a protest on the Karakoram Highway. The demonstration featured party workers holding placards with slogans against the federal government.
Trand stated that Pakistan was founded in the name of Islam, emphasising accountability for all actions. He criticised the PML-N government for “placing itself above the law through the 27th Amendment”, which he deemed unacceptable.
He further claimed the amendment aimed “to conceal the government’s mismanagement, corruption and administrative failures”.
Niaz accused the PML-N government of attempting to sideline PTI, its leadership, and workers, asserting that PTI remains the most popular and acceptable party in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in Bajaur, scores of PTI workers and supporters attended the demonstration in the Sewai area of War Mamund tehsil, where they chanted slogans against the PML-N-led federal government and its allies while waving party flags.
The protesters said that the 27th Amendment was nothing but an attempt to further destroy the judiciary system in the country.
Protests staged across Punjab
In response to the protest call by the PTI and the TTAP, the PTI’s Chief Organiser in Punjab, Aliya Hamza, also instructed her party’s ticket holders to join the movement.
All party ticket holders, even at the union council level, were instructed to wear black bands, hold pro-democracy and judiciary placards and take out rallies in their areas, she said in a message posted on X.
By evening, aside from small protests, no big gatherings were reported.
Hamza posted on X that the protests had been peaceful, with ticket holders, lawyers and the party’s Punjab chapter protesting outside their tehsil courts against the 27th Amendment and the unethical treatment of Imran’s sisters.
“Participants held protest placards and staged a peaceful demonstration,” she wrote.
