By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The fractured opposition alliance gathered in Islamabad on Sunday and vowed to escalate protests against the government, announcing nationwide strikes on the second anniversary of disputed elections and demanding the release of jailed leaders, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Tehreek Tahaffuz Aeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), a coalition of parties including Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, concluded a two-day national consultative conference with a declaration that laid out a litany of grievances, from alleged judicial meddling to media suppression, while calling for a new Charter of Democracy to salvage the nation’s fraying institutions.
Participants, representing parties across the spectrum, stressed that talks with the ruling coalition remained possible but insisted on sweeping changes to restore faith in elections and the courts. “As per the directions of the PTI founder, preparations for the countrywide movement have been started,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi told reporters after the conference. “We will meet every person and will tell them to wait for the second call. We will go to Rawalpindi, Lahore, KP and other parts of the country.”
The alliance plans to mark Feb. 8, 2026 — exactly two years since the 2024 general elections that critics say were marred by fraud and propelled the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to power — as a “black day” with wheel-jam and shutter-down strikes paralysing commerce and transport across the nation and abroad. To build momentum, the group named a committee under Vice Chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, including Dr. Amjad Ali, Ali Asghar, Haleem Adil Sheikh and Zain Shah, to set up local panels at provincial and district levels for mass mobilisation. Similar consultative conferences will follow in every provincial capital, drawing in bar councils, civil society and ordinary citizens to press for constitutional order, the rule of law and genuine democracy.
The declaration asserted that “democracy was not possible without free and fair elections” and pledged efforts to achieve them. It called for the swift naming of a neutral chief election commissioner, a revamped Election Commission of Pakistan to oversee the next vote, and an independent inquiry into the “worst and blatant” rigging of the Feb. 8, 2024, polls to punish those involved. On the judiciary, attendees charged that the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments had gutted its independence, forcing out “conscientious judges” like former Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, as well as Lahore High Court Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, through removals and transfers deemed politically motivated. They highlighted the recent ouster of Islamabad High Court Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri over a purported fake degree, expressing solidarity and demanding the bench be rebuilt according to the original 1973 Constitution.
The conference decried enforced disappearances and the blacklisting of activists under the Fourth Schedule as illegal tactics. It also condemned the convictions of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in what were described as false cases, along with the “inhumane treatment” of Khan’s sisters, who faced being dragged by their hair and hit with chemical water cannons. The alliance demanded freedom for all “political prisoners,” listing Khan, Ms. Bibi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Yasmin Rashid, Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Ali Wazir, Haji Abdul Samad and Wali Mohmand.
It sought an end to the ban on visits with Khan, slammed baseless charges against Grand Democratic Alliance leader Murtaza Jatoi and Sindh United Party’s Zain Shah, and denounced police violence against demonstrators in Moro.
Media curbs drew sharp rebuke: The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Act was blasted as a bid to throttle free speech, with concerns raised over the financial squeeze on Dawn Media Group. Attendees denounced a narcotics charge against journalist Matiullah Jan, stood with reporters ousted from jobs under the current regime, and condemned cases against human rights advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha.
Broader alarms included “alarming non-transparency” in talk of deploying Pakistani forces to Gaza, with a plea to brief the public first. Citing World Bank figures, the group noted that over 44 percent of the population scrapes by below the poverty line, while International Monetary Fund reports tallied corruption at 5.3 trillion rupees. The government was accused of botching efforts to tame inflation, joblessness and want, with no clear path to aid.
Security woes in Sindh and Balochistan prompted calls for the release of Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Mahrang Baloch and other Baloch detainees. The alliance pushed for enacting resolutions from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s tribal jirga, settling federal arrears to the province and scrapping the ban on the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement. Invoking the 18th Amendment, participants argued that provinces own their minerals and that global mining pacts bypassing local governments and communities flout the law. They also demanded the prompt revival of student unions countrywide.
The declaration warned that economic and political stability go hand in hand, urging swift steps to shield rights, deliver justice and bolster independent bodies. Amid the crisis, it affirmed that “the door to dialogue must never be closed in a democracy,” but stressed the dire need for a fresh Charter of Democracy.
In closing remarks, TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the opposition welcomed talks but doubted the rulers’ bona fides, vowing no room for “seasonal birds” in their fold and accountability for looters and abusers of power. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan called the moment ripe for “comprehensive negotiations,” pledging backing for Achakzai and declaring that PTI would join any push for democracy. “The army and the country belonged to the people,” he said, adding that his party honours the military no matter who leads it. He pressed Achakzai to start a campaign, promising PTI’s steadfast alliance in the battle for rights.
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