TTAP refuses responsibility in delay of PTI’s Rawalpindi rally

ISLAMABAD: Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) has declined to take responsibility for postponement of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s planned April 9 rally in Rawalpindi, saying the opposition alliance was not consulted before the event was announced.

TTAP and PTI leaders said PTI asked the alliance to announce a delay in the rally in light of recent diplomatic developments, but the request was rejected.

A TTAP leader told The Express Tribune that the alliance had already decided to distance itself from the rally even before a meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan. The leader alleged that PTI wanted the alliance to make the announcement on its behalf instead of using the party’s own platform.

The same leader said several PTI figures had opposed the rally from the beginning and described the decision as one taken in haste. He said that when the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister announced the rally, he had discussed the proposal with party leaders beforehand. The TTAP leader said three senior PTI leaders had advised the chief minister to first consult the alliance, but he went ahead with the announcement despite that advice and under pressure to prove himself.

The TTAP leader said the alliance had made its position clear from the outset and would not join the rally because it had not been taken into confidence. He added that when PTI later approached TTAP during a leadership meeting and asked it to take responsibility for delaying the event, the alliance refused. "Our position was very clear—we would not carry the chief minister's burden," he further added.

He added that Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar had questioned why TTAP should accept blame for delaying a gathering it had not announced in the first place. The alliance advised PTI to hold its own party meeting and use its own platform to announce any rescheduling.

The TTAP leader further said PTI could instead hold the event on April 25 to mark Youm-e-Tasees. He also claimed that advice later attributed to Imran Khan was used to justify a decision PTI had already made before the meeting. He added that PTI had been reminded to respect the broader opposition alliance.

Reservations within PTI

Key PTI leaders had earlier expressed reservations about the Rawalpindi rally and described it as a rushed decision.

When contacted, TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain said the alliance consisted of nine parties and none of them had been consulted before the rally was announced. He said PTI, acting on its own, was free to organise as many events as it wanted. However, he maintained that because TTAP had not been part of the original decision, it could not be expected to announce any postponement.

The development points to differences between PTI and its opposition allies over both the handling of the Rawalpindi rally and the process through which such decisions should be made within the alliance framework.