‘You are in hiding, yet asking workers to come out’; Ali Amin Gandapur lambasts Hammad Azhar

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azhar and Chief Minister (CM) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur exchanged fierce words on the decision to call off a party protest scheduled for October 15 in Islamabad, Geo News has reported.

During a political committee meeting, Hammad Azhar insisted on holding the protest at Islamabad’s D Chowk during the SCO summit. In response, Ali Amin Gandapur said, “You are in hiding yet are telling workers to come out for the protest,” the Chief Minister reportedly said.

“I came to Islamabad two times, but PTI’s Punjab leadership was out of sight. Our members of the provincial assembly are in custody, and provincial workers had to be saved,” Gandapur said.

“Don’t blame us; hold the protest. I will lead from the Punjab side,” Hammad Azhar aggressively responded.

The party’s senior members were divided on Sunday on the scheduled protest at Islamabad D Chowk on the same day on which the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was to begin.

Saner elements in the PTI group, including Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur and party Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, were in favour of calling off protests at Islamabad amid the SCO summit in Pakistan, Ansar Abbasi told Geo News.

Moreover, former Speakers of the National Assembly, Asad Qaiser, Hamid Khan, Raoof Hassan, and Ali Muhammad Khan, were also against holding the protest on October 15 in Islamabad.

Hammad Azhar, Shehbaz Gill, Khalid Khurshid, and Hafiz Farhat remained adamant about holding a protest at D Chowk, while Advocate Salman Akram Raja also endorsed the idea of protest.

Shehbaz Gill and Hammad Azhar alike used the party’s social media to criticise the PTI groups who were resisting the decision to hold protests in Islamabad’s red zone.

Chairman Barrister Gohar officially said that on the assurance of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, peaceful protests had been called off.