QUETTA (National Times) The leaders of the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a grand alliance of six opposition parties, addressed their maiden protest rally in Balochistan’s Pishin district on Saturday, where they vowed to stand for the supremacy of the constitution and announced a countrywide movement against the alleged malpractices in the Feb 8 general elections.
In his address to the participants of the massive protest rally, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the TAAP head and the chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), asserted that their alliance aimed not to overthrow the government but to uphold the supremacy of the constitution.
Achakzai urged all Pakistanis who believe in upholding the constitution to join the movement, stating that the opposition parties had realised the importance of standing for truth and justice and supporting the oppressed against injustice.
Achakzai demanded that the cases instituted against the PTI founder and other leaders be withdrawn forthwith.
He also pointed out that those who had always been in power in Balochistan still hold sway in the province, asserting that they would not accept these opportunists in politics.
Addressing the rally, PTI leader Omar Ayub stressed the importance of holding the constitution supreme in the country.
He declared that they would assert their rights through the movement, expressing confidence that the people’s wave would sweep away the rulers.
The opposition leader in the National Assembly emphasised that if transparent elections had been held, the PTI would have been in power. He slammed the incumbent coalition government, alleging that it was standing on the crutches of Form 47.
Ayub said that if the constitution was respected, the PTI founder, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Parvez Elahi and other leaders would be released from Adiala Jail.
In his address, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the chairman of the Balochistan National Party, criticised the lack of action against those who stole the public mandate.
He credited the Pashtuns for the movement’s initiation and hailed the successful conduct and completion of the maiden rally as a tribute to Achakzai’s PkMAP.
PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat, in his address, described the historic rally as a vote of no-confidence against what he called a rigged government. He said that if people across the country mobilized as they did in Peshawar, this government would not survive.
