LAHORE – Clearly panicked by people’s response to PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s call, the interim Punjab government has completely blocked Lahore by placing containers in every single street of the city and deploying heavy contingents of police to stop people from going to PTI’s public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan on Saturday night.
As part of its efforts to stop promotion of Imran Khan’s rally through social media, the interim Punjab government shut down the internet service in Lahore, especially in areas surrounding Minar-e-Pakistan, causing problems for users and financial losses to telecom companies.
Despite all the measure the interim Punjab government led by Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi could take to stop people from reaching Minar-e-Pakistan, a huge number of people reached the venue to hear Imran Khan’s speech. Some people had to part their vehicles at least 15 kilometres from Minar-e-Pakistan due to the roadblocks, but they reached the venue on foot.
PTI leader Zartaj Gull Wazir was seen travelling in Lahore by a rickshaw to reach Minar-e-Pakistan. She can be heard telling some people running after her rickshaw that the government has blocked all roads in Lahore, but she would still reach Imran Khan’s Jalsa.
A middle-aged woman, who works with Civil Defence, was seen telling a YouTuber that she left her home at 9:00 AM and reached Minar-e-Pakistan on foot to attended Imran Khan’s rally. She said she wasn’t even afraid of losing her job.
Days before Imran Khan’s Minar-e-Pakistan rally, the federal government, interim Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the interim Punjab government launched a crackdown on the PTI workers through the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and Punjab Police. Police conducted thousands of raids and entered people’s houses without search warrants. Thousands of PTI workers were arrested in these raids.