KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) organised a public gathering on Sunday that ended in extreme mismanagement when the workers brawled after MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh came to address the party’s 23rd Youm-e-Tasees (Foundation Day) at the Mangal Bazar Ground in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
The workers got divided into two groups and started fighting each other, using sticks, chairs and water bottles, while the PTI leadership, including Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Khurram Sher Zaman, and others, managed to escape from the spot rather than trying to resolve the issue and defuse the situation. The fight began as soon as Haleem Adil Sheikh came to address the rally when a group of workers started chanting slogan, “Go Haleem Go,” against him.
The other group tried to tackle the situation that led to a brawl between the two groups, which later evolved into a serious fight and saw use of sticks and bottles. The rally was disrupted after the fight began while the supporters, who came to attend their party’s foundation day, could hardly succeed in escaping unharmed.
PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh also left the rally after abrief address and the workers continuously fought each other at different spots as they were going back home. Adil in his speech said the people are talking against the party but now Hafeez Sheikh has come to control inflation and a change would be soon observed. It may be mentioned that the foundation day cake was also not cut due to the workers’ brawl.
It was noticed that no national level leadership was present on the occasion and the rally was finished in a hurry while PTI Sindh acting president Haleem Adil Sheikh was addressing. The report said that PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman seemed confused as he told the media persons not to call the gathering a rally but a workers convention to avoid embarrassment if the workers did not come to attend in sufficient numbers.
The report said that the workers also chanted slogans against the Karachi leadership while no leader was there to control the situation and the rally quickly ended. The terminated PIA employees also protested during the rally and demanded to be restored on their duties.
Sources said the quarrel began when Saifur Rehman tried to enter the VIP area along with his supporters and exchanged words with MPA Khurram Sher Zaman. PTI sources claimed that the fight was started by the supporters of Saifur Rehman. The police arrested four workers involved in the fight but no FIR was registered.
