KARACHI: The meeting of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is scheduled for Monday, as provincial officials confirmed, despite earlier reports that the engagement had been canceled.
As per the sources, the meeting was supposed to take place on Saturday, but it got postponed owing to the packed calendars of both chief ministers. In any case, Sindh Provincial Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said that no meeting had been planned for Saturday, so there could not be any question of cancellation.
Nasir Hussain Shah and PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh both spoke to the press and indicated that the meeting of the two chief ministers will take place on Monday.
On the subject of the PTI rally, Nasir Hussain Shah pointed out that permission for the congregation had been granted two or three hours late. He went on to say that the provincial government was ready to supply chairs and containers if necessary and even suggested that PTI could push the event back a day if that made it easier.
Sindh Interior Minister warns PTI against holding roadside rally
Earlier, the Sindh government has given a warning to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party that strict action will be taken if the party organizes a rally on roads instead of the specified venue.
According to Ziaul Hasan Lanjhar, the Sindh Interior Minister, PTI will not be allowed to have any public manifestation on the main thoroughfares. “If the protest takes place on a road, the government will react severely and in a law-abiding way,” he mentioned.
The minister pointed out that the party has been authorized to conduct its meeting at Bagh-e-Jinnah and that PTI has to hold its event there. He stated that the cooperation between the government and PTI will continue but any assertion of the authority of the state will not be tolerated.
Notwithstanding this, PTI Sindh Prez Haleem Adil Sheikh has stated that the party is not going to Bagh-e-Jinnah for the gathering and is going to hold it right by the Mazar-e-Quaid gate instead.
Similarly, PTI’s Raja Azhar said the place of the rally remained Bagh-e-Jinnah, and he acknowledged that the late issuance of the NOC had cut short the preparation time but the containers for the event were already arranged.
This situation depicts the ongoing miscommunication between the Sindh government and PTI concerning rally logistics and compliance with granted permissions.
