The issue of letting the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf hold its public meeting at the CTI Ground in Sialkot today (Saturday) is heating up because the government is asking the PTI organizers to move the rally to another place in the city.
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz also joined in, saying that the PTI should choose a different place in Sialkot because the CTI Ground is owned by the Christian community and has a church built on it. He said that the Christians might object if the PTI used their territory.
Hamza said that Imran Khan, who is the leader of the PTI, would not be able to mess around with the country’s constitution and laws.
Attaullah Tarar, a leader of the PML-N, told the media that the government would not let the PTI use parts of the Christian church for political purposes.
“Why doesn’t the PTI hold its public rally at Sialkot Stadium, which is a much bigger place for a political meeting?” he asked, adding that the PTI knew it couldn’t get enough people to fill up the big stadium, so it wanted a smaller place to hold its rally.
“We dare Imran to hold his rally at the Sialkot Stadium,” Tarar said. He also said that the PTI wanted to start a fight between Christians and Muslims by holding its rally at the CTI Ground. He swore that the government would never let that happen.
The leader of the PML-N also said that the government would arrest the local leaders of the PTI if that was what it took to stop this rally.
It’s important to note that late Friday night, the police in Sialkot stormed the place where the PTI was holding a public meeting and arrested many party members, including the party’s top leader, Usman Dar.
