Senior Vice President of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain-e-Pakistan, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Wednesday alleged that the government exerted pressure on the hotel administration to cancel the booking of the venue scheduled to host an opposition All-Party Conference (APC).
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Khokhar said the event, which was to be held under the leadership of Mahmood Khan Achakzai, aimed to discuss the country’s worsening political climate, review the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and raise the issue of missing persons.
He lamented that despite being a private gathering, the conference was abruptly blocked under what he termed "fascist tactics" by the ruling regime.
“The current government is trying to crash the opposition through coercion,” he said. “We had secured this hall lawfully. This was not a public event requiring a permit. There's no legal justification to stop us.”
He announced that despite the cancellation, opposition leaders and participants would reassemble at the same location at 10am tomorrow to assert their constitutional right to assembly and lay out a future strategy.
Khokhar further revealed that the hotel administration had been threatened, saying, “Where should we go for justice when even the judiciary has become a subsidiary institution?”
Prominent political figures including Mahmood Achakzai, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, and representatives of various parties from Sindh are expected to participate. Invitations have also been extended to Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F, and families of missing persons.
“Our first priority is to hold this APC peacefully,” he said. “We won’t bow down to unconstitutional pressure, and we will not approach any administration. They cannot stop us under any law.”