PTI's 'final call': Why didn't a large number of workers from Punjab and Sindh join the protest like in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?
PTI’s Final Call: Unequal Mobilization Across Provinces – What Held Back Punjab and Sindh?
Umar Daraz Nangiana, Riaz Sohail
Ahadah, BBC Urdu
Pros
1. Reduced Risk of Violence:
- A smaller turnout in provinces with higher government presence reduced the likelihood of clashes or violent confrontations.
2. Focused Strategy:
- Concentrated support in KP might have allowed PTI to demonstrate strength without overstretching its resources.
3. Avoidance of Escalation:
- Limited participation in Punjab and Sindh may have prevented an escalated crackdown and further arrests.
Cons
1. Weak Optics of Support:
- The inability to mobilize nationwide weakens PTI’s claims of widespread public backing and undermines its narrative of being a grassroots movement.
2. Erosion of Credibility:
- Limited turnout may reinforce the perception that PTI is losing momentum and influence outside KP.
3. Regional Isolation:
- Over-reliance on KP could isolate PTI from broader national support, reducing its chances of future electoral success in Punjab and Sindh.
4. Loss of Morale:
- Visible disparities in participation could further demoralize workers in provinces where turnout was low.
Broader Implications
The uneven participation highlights the challenges PTI faces in sustaining a truly national movement under the current political climate. To regain momentum, PTI would need to rebuild its organizational structure, counteract disillusionment among its supporters, and adapt its strategy to the shifting political landscape in Punjab and Sindh.
Workers of Pakistan’s opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are reaching the capital Islamabad for the second time in a short period of time to protest.
The recent nationwide protest rally call has been given by PTI chief and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, which is also being called the ‘final call’ by his party.
PTI claims that once again the PTI protest rally is being led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, but this time Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi is also accompanying him.
A large part of the PTI protest rally has reached Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is the only province where the PTI is in power. Like the previous rally, this time too, the convoy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and his workers had to cross containers, police checkpoints, trenches and tear gas shelling by the police to reach Islamabad.
He had announced to reach D-Chowk in Islamabad on November 24, but his protest rally could not enter Islamabad until Monday night. A large number of people and containers and cranes to remove obstacles were also seen accompanying him.
But such a large number of people or protest rallies have not been seen from other provinces of Pakistan. Especially, PTI workers were not seen coming out in large numbers from the country’s largest province of Punjab and coming towards Islamabad.
Similarly, not many people were seen coming towards Islamabad from Sindh province and the country’s largest city of Karachi to join this PTI protest rally. Until Monday night, no major protests were seen in Lahore or Karachi either.
There were reports of clashes between a few PTI workers and the local police at isolated places. However, there was no organized protest led by any central leader of the party from Lahore or any attempt to move towards Islamabad by crossing the barriers.
So the question is why the PTI was not able to hold big rallies in other provinces like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
‘We don’t have any cranes’
Many leaders from the PTI’s Punjab leadership came out in rallies from their areas at the start of the protest, but most of them either disappeared from the public eye afterwards or did not go very far.
Among them was PTI leader and Secretary Information Punjab Shaukat Basra from Bahawalnagar. Speaking to the BBC, he said that he had left his area with a convoy of more than 200 vehicles, but the only route leading to Islamabad for them was closed by the police and the administration.
Shaukat Basra said, ‘Just saying it is closed will not be correct. They have completely sealed the entire province. There was a heavy police presence on both the two routes leading to Islamabad, and barriers were erected with containers, making it impossible to get past them.
He claimed that the police also raided his vehicle, but he managed to escape without being arrested, "because we have instructions from the leadership not to be arrested and to reach D-Chowk."
In response to the question of why most PTI leaders or workers from Lahore and the rest of the province were not seen rallying towards Islamabad in large numbers, Shaukat Basra said that the government has erected barriers throughout Punjab, including Lahore, and their leadership is also afraid of arrests.
He said, "Containers have been erected every ten kilometers. Now we do not have cranes to clear the way by removing the containers."
He claimed that despite this, the party's leadership and workers from Punjab are heading towards Islamabad and will soon be at D-Chowk.
What arrangements were made to block the PTI’s path towards the government?
Even before the PTI protest began, a heavy police force was deployed at several places in Lahore, the capital of Punjab. Along with this, many roads were blocked by placing containers.
The Lahore Ring Road was completely closed to all types of traffic for two days. The exit and entry of Lahore through motorways was already closed. The federal government announced that all motorways would be closed for two days for ‘maintenance’ purposes.
The PTI has claimed that hundreds of PTI leaders and workers have been arrested from Lahore and other cities in Punjab.
According to PTI leader Shaukat Basrak, the number of his party workers arrested from Punjab would be around 6,000. When contacted, the Punjab Police did not confirm or deny this number.
Shaukat Basra said that the PTI leadership has given clear instructions to its workers that they have to avoid such arrests so that they can reach D-Chowk, Islamabad. He said that this is one of the reasons why the leadership and workers in Punjab have not come out openly.
Has the PTI leadership from Punjab not been able to gather people?
Most of the central leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Punjab has been in hiding since before the November 24 protest began. The PTI leadership in Lahore was contacted, but there was no response from them.
However, PTI central leader and Secretary Information Punjab Shaukat Basra told the BBC that those who came forward from the PTI leadership in Punjab were arrested.
Shaukat Basra said that the Chief Whip in the National Assembly and PTI central leader from Multan Aamir Dogar, along with MNA Zain Qureshi and dozens of others were arrested by the police from Multan the day before when they tried to leave to join the protest.
However, he claimed that many PTI leaders like him are coming towards Lahore with different numbers of rallies from where they will head towards Islamabad in the form of big rallies.
He denied the impression that the PTI Punjab leadership had not come forward or had not been able to gather people. “Let me tell you from Lahore that Hammad Azhar himself will lead the rally.”
He claimed that many workers of his party have already secretly left for Islamabad in different groups and some have even reached.
He said, “We have also decided to prolong this protest. Just as this government is prolonging it by erecting obstacles, we will also take it forward. No matter what, we will definitely reach D-Chowk in Islamabad. This cannot stop us.”
He said that every member of the party’s national and provincial assemblies has been given the task of bringing a large number of workers to D-Chowk and this will also be accomplished from Punjab.
It should be noted that many central PTI leaders from Punjab, and especially Lahore, are already in jail, including former provincial minister Yasmin Rashid, former Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, and Senator Ijaz Chaudhry.
How much participation did PTI workers have from Sindh province?
There is no clear participation from the country's second largest province in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf protest, while there was silence in the city of Karachi, considered the organization's stronghold and support bank.
PTI Sindh spokesperson Muhammad Ali Baloch claims that a convoy of more than 180 buses, cars and vans has left Karachi under the leadership of Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, which faced obstacles in Shikarpur in the first phase, after which they also faced difficulties at the Sindh-Punjab border, but despite the obstacles, some people have managed to reach the protest.
When asked whether in the past, workers and sympathizers had come out on the streets in Karachi to express solidarity on the party’s call, but this time it was not the case, he claimed that “the police have spread fear and panic, workers are being arrested, FIRs are being registered against them, according to him, Imran Khan had also made it clear that obstacles would be put in the way of the people of Karachi so that they would not come.”
PTI central leader Haleem Adil Sheikh from Karachi told the BBC that “we left Karachi in three different convoys, two convoys by road and a large number also went by train in separate groups.”
He said that they took the National Highway and Indus Highway routes on buses, coasters and small private vehicles.
Haleem Adil Sheikh said, “To avoid police harassment in Karachi, we officially announced to leave the Millennium Mall at 12:00 on the 23rd, but we left Karachi between 12:00 and 5:00 at night and convoys from other cities kept joining the two convoys from Karachi.”
He claimed that the convoy he was in had gone via the Indus Highway. “We were going quietly but we had to stop for breakfast at a hotel in Naseerabad, which the government and agencies came to know about.”
He further claimed that ‘when we went to Shikarpur Garhi Yasin C, a heavy contingent of police forcibly tried to block our way and we had a clash with the police, on which the police opened fire and tore the tires of the buses and also fired in the air at us and abused the workers.’
Halim Adil Sheikh claimed that ten of his workers were injured at this point while 30 were arrested. To free his workers, he demonstrated in Shikarpur, staged a sit-in and blocked the road. However, he claims that the police had taken away the keys of his vehicles.
He claimed that when he headed towards Sukkur from Shikarpur, the road was blocked at the Sukkur entry, trucks were parked face to face, the windows of his buses were broken and the road was also dug up.
He said that a similar situation was faced on the way ahead and the Sindh-Punjab border was also sealed, so “after that we decided that we would leave in small groups instead of a large convoy.”
Halim Adil Sheikh said that several groups of his party from Sindh have joined Ali Amin Gandapur’s convoy in KP, while most are stuck at Jhelum in Punjab.
Analyst Mazhar Abbas says that ‘PTI appears inactive due to the differences in the party leadership in Sindh. According to him, Sindh’s organizational shortcomings have come to the fore after coming into the opposition, which is why no big rallies are seen here.’
According to Mazhar Abbas, ‘Former President Arif Alvi, who was elected from Karachi, has also gone to KP and participated in the protest, whereas in principle he would have led from Karachi, but he preferred Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.’
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