ABBOTTABAD/HARIPUR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Khan Afridi on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) street movement was gaining momentum across the Hazara region as large numbers of party workers joined the rally from Haripur to Abbottabad.
The rally was attended by PTI Members National Assembly Ali Khan Jadoon and Ali Asghar Khan, along with Members Provincial Assembly Rajab Ali Khan Abbasi, Nazir Abbasi, Iftikhar Khan Jadoon, and Musharraq Ghani, who were present on stage alongside other senior party leaders.
However, serious inconvenience was caused to the public due to the complete closure of Fawara Chowk, as roads on both sides were blocked nearly four hours before the arrival of the chief minister.
The shutdown of Abbottabad’s main commercial and traffic hub resulted in long queues of vehicles on both sides of the road, while traffic diverted towards the bazaar led to congestion and gridlock on adjoining roads. As traffic pressure increased, ambulances and other emergency vehicles were also stuck, causing widespread frustration among citizens, who remained stranded for hours.
Meanwhile, members of the doctors community and paramedical staff staged a protest by holding banners and placards demanding justice for deceased Dr Warda.
Doctors carrying banners gathered on the Karakoram Highway near Gami Adda and outside the Women and Children Hospital, chanting slogans in support of their demands.
During his address at the Fawara Chowk, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi assured the public and protesting doctors that justice would be ensured for Dr Warda, and promised that the matter would be pursued.
Meanwhile, speaking to PTI workers who gathered to welcome him and other leaders in Kangra and Chowk Sidiq-e-Akbar in Haripur city, Sohail Afridi said the PTI had launched preparation for street movement on the directives of their jailed leader Imran Khan. He said that they would continue to strive for real democracy, restoration of free judiciary and press, supremacy of law and Constitution and rule of law in the country. He said this as part of the street movement that the PTI decided to kick-start from Haripur.
During his brief address to the participants of the rally in Kangra and Chowk Sidiq-e-Akbar on the way to Abbottabad and Mansehra, Afridi said that preparation for the street movement was being carried out across the country and the way people responded to PTI’s preparatory call for street movement has proved that the people were supporting Imran Khan and his party.
He acknowledged in his short speech that the people of Haripur stood firm with Imran Khan which they once again proved by welcoming him but, ironically, he claimed, the mandate of people of Haripur was stolen once again. He referred to the recent by-election when former opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan’s wife Shehrnaz Omar Ayub, the party’s nominee, lost to PMLN’s Babar Nawaz. The PTI leadership termed it theft of their mandate.
