Feb 8 protest call falls flat in Punjab, says CM Punjab

The wheel jam and shutter down protest plan called by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday throughout the nation faced differing outcomes in the provinces as Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aein-e-Pakistan (TTAP) admitted that Punjab remained at the bottom in the achievement of the desired outcome of the protest.

The opposition alliance TTAP had earlier, in January, announced a blockade of transports, and commercial strikes in Pakistan in reaction to the alleged large-scale rigging in the general elections.

However, while parts of Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh, according to TTAP and PTI's own accounts—reported significant disruption, Punjab's response was negligible.

In Lahore, the centre of Pakistan’s politics, Basant celebrations continued throughout the day, while in other areas of Punjab, it was an elongated weekend as Kashmir Day had been preceded by two Basant holidays in a row, followed by a Sunday.

The Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, herself took to Twitter and ridiculed the PTI and TTAP on her Twitter handle about their failure to organize any protest rally. In her tweet, she wrote: “Zero protest, zero shutter down."

Those activities shared with the media in Punjab involved walking a dozen people holding lights, which showed that the party was not able to organize any major protest in the region.

Speaking to a news agency, TTAP's spokesperson, Akhundzada Hussain, said Balochistan is "an overwhelming success," where "major arteries are blocked and businesses are closed in the districts."

The K-P party strongholds conducted district-wise rallies besides wheel jams and shutter downs, say officials of the party.

Although in the case of Punjab, Akhundzada was also seen admitting to the least activity having been witnessed. Akhundzada also found the reason for low success in the "high-handedness" and "ironclad control" of the provincial administration, as he accused them of imposing restrictions that effectively curtailed political mobilisation.

PTI's Punjab spokesperson MPA Brig (retd) Mushtaq said the primary thrust of the activity was voluntary participation. He added that torch-bearing marches were a last-minute inclusion in the plan.

He said the kind of aggression usually associated with such activities was deliberately avoided.