TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain. Photo: file
LAHORE:
Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) will hold its second meeting on Monday (today) to finalise arrangements for February 8, as indications emerge of a tactical shift away from street agitation towards more calibrated ways of registering protest, according to sources within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The evolving approach comes amid heightened state scrutiny and internal assessments of mobilisation capacity, prompting the alliance to reassess how best to mark the anniversary of the general elections, which it alleges were marred by widespread rigging.
While February 8 remains central to TTAP’s political messaging, sources suggest the method of protest is still being closely guarded.
TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain, speaking to The Express Tribune, confirmed that a meeting of the TTAP leadership would be held at Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s residence around 2pm to finalise the February 8 mass protest plan against alleged rigging.
Asked about the apparent shift in approach, he said that as of now mass protests and rallies were indeed not on the cards, though the final decision rested with TTAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.
Asked whether this meant there would be no activity on streets and roads, he said they would “keep the plan close to the chest”.
He added that given the precautionary regressive measures against PTI by the state in a bid to throttle their plans, they could not afford to make everything public beforehand.
Akhundzada said their focus at this stage was on wheel jam and shutter down across the country.
He said whatever plan was finalised, the decision had been taken to put the “wheel in motion” a day before the “D day”.
He said this would be the second meeting for February 8 and that it would be attended by TTAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, PTI chief Barrister Gohar, Salman Akram Raja, Allama Raja Nasir, Muhammad Zubair and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
A source within PTI said that, for now, no preparations had been made for any street movement, indicating a shift in policy or, more bluntly, a realisation of depleting mobilisation-worthy ground support.
“We have the entire public behind us, the entire country knows the elections were rigged, so what,” he said, adding that the public did not matter in the existing power equation.
He said the fact of the matter was that PTI wanted to see what Achakzai planned for February 8, as “it is going to be his show now, not of PTI alone”.
PTI, he said, would be one member of it.
He added that the actual utility of Mehmood Khan Achakzai was not to run a street movement but to find a way out of the “blind alley” PTI found itself stuck in.
The source said adopting a safer route on February 8 would be a wise move and that the focus should instead shift towards backdoor engagement to carve out some political space for PTI.
He said protests in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone would not amount to much, while any attempt at a street movement in Punjab could have catastrophic results, given what he termed the unrestrained use of power against the party by the state.
