Islamabad: The Tehreek-I-Tahafuz-Ayeen–Pakistan (TTAP) opposition alliance held its several-part conference on Thursday, asking for a new social contract to restore the Constitution and democracy, claiming that government officials had blocked access to the original place, forcing them to move.
The alliance was forced to transfer its conference to a private farm after the authorities placed barriers in their planned place, Tulip Banquet Hall, the organizers said.
The TTAP leader, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, said that when he and other leaders, including Mehmood Khan Achakzai, arrived at the Tulip Banquets Hall, the management of the place was absent.
“Barriers were placed there and it became impossible to go there,” Khokhar said. “We held a press conference there and then decided to move the place to my farm located in Tarlai.”
It urges the ‘democratic forces to unite and write a new letter to restore democracy
The conference, which was attended by opposition parties, lawyers and media figures, criticized what the speakers called the “antidemocratic behavior” of the government.
In statements to the participants, Mr. Achakzai said that the group met for the supremacy of the Constitution, the freedom of the Judiciary and the media, and the restoration of the public mandate ‘stolen’ of the elections of February 8.
“As everyone knows, on the night of February 8, a shameless robbery of the public mandate took place through money and coercion,” said Mr. Achakzai. “Who paid the highest price received the victory with a check mark. What followed was the auction of the entire state apparatus: consciences, government work and public resources were put on sale.”
Mr. Achakzai argued that “powerful anti -democratic forces have tried the Constitution as nothing more than a piece of paper.”
He said that after the party of Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) was stripped of its electoral symbol, the voters still overwhelmed their candidates, only for their mandate to “snatch at the tip of the gun” on the night of February 9.
He said that the country was wrapped in corruption, with 45 percent of the population that lived below the poverty line, and questioned military actions in certain regions.
“The areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other regions Pashtun and Baloch are routinely subject to bombing and bombing,” he said. “What was the fault of the disarmed people of Tirah and the innocent children of Bajaur who were plagued with bullets?”
Mr. Achakzai appealed to all “democratic” forces to unite and formulate a new consensus letter and a social contract.
In a warning to the international community, he said that the agreements made by the current government with respect to national resources do not have legal legitimacy because the government does not represent people.
A formal resolution of the conference is expected to be published on Friday.
Posted in Dawn, August 1, 2025
