Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan (Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP)) on Monday endorsed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's call for October 4 long march. According to the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) spokesman, Akhunzada Hussain, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a part of the opposition alliance. "Now that the party has issued a call for October 4 protest, the opposition alliance will fully participate in this call alongside the allied parties," he said.
He said the September 27 decision had been unanimously declared a joint call of the opposition alliance during a leadership meeting, where a strategy for protests in Sindh and Balochistan was also finalised. Akhunzada noted that detailed consultations on this matter had also taken place with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, and the chief minister had clarified this in his statement.
Afridi, he pointed out, had stated that the September 27 decision was made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s political committee, and the party's Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan had met with opposition leaders prior to the announcement of that committee's decision. After taking the opposition alliance leadership on board, Afridi addressed a news conference to delay the planned long march to October 4. According to the opposition alliance's spokesman, Gohar was clearly informed that every single day following September 27 was crucial for them and this moment would not return; in the current circumstances, this time is vital for Pakistan's democratic future and the supremacy of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Vice-Chairman Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas has clarified that the decision on the long march was made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while the opposition alliance was merely intimated about it. Talking to He noted that the opposition alliance leadership had advised the party to incorporate issues such as law and order, mineral resources, and provincial affairs into the agenda.
Allama Nasir said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership was present during the meeting with the opposition alliance, and during the final session, they had urged that the narrative be broadened to become a national agenda. "We had called for the inclusion of provincial rights and the issues facing Balochistan and Sindh in the agenda; their stance was that the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the country's economic and political matters, should also be addressed," he explained.
He remarked that the number of prisoners currently held in Punjab was unprecedented in Pakistan's political history, adding that the country was grappling with inflation and hikes in petrol prices.