KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) champions and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) cohorts were on a collision course on Saturday evening when a protest against encroachments almost turned into a battering ram ready to demolish a concrete wall built around Bilawal House for ‘added security’.
A large contingent of riot police were deployed outside Bilawal House after PTI said it would launch a campaign to bring down the security wall.
Policemen and paramilitary troops surrounded Bilawal House to fend off a possible clash between workers of both the parties.
Earlier, hundreds of PTI and PPP workers started showing up outside Bilawal House this evening.
To reduce tensions, authorities opened one side of the road that had been blocked for years for security reasons.
"We have opened one side of the road for normal use and set up CCTV cameras for security purposes. There is a large contingent of police to avert any clash," a police official said.
The authorities opened the road after Geo News aired PTI’s announcement that it aimed to demolish the wall outside Bilawal House, which the party claimed hampered normal life and traffic.
The PTI said it would organize a protest near Bilawal House and demolish the fortification built when PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was the president of Pakistan.
PPP leader Najmi Alam warned of clashes if PTI workers tried to tumble the wall forcibly.
"Bilawal House is a sentimental memorial of our martyred leader Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and any attempt to create problems or play politics with it will not be tolerated," he said.
On the other hand, PTI leader Arif Alvi claimed the wall had been built illegally and Sindh High Court recently issued orders that it be torn down.
"We are just following court orders," he said.
Alvi argued that security arrangements outside Bilawal House were illegal and a source of nuisance for local residents.
"It's not politics, it's about citizen's rights. The protest will continue Sunday and ultimately this wall will be knocked down," he said.
http://www.geo.tv/article-132121-Ro...artially-opened-PTI-PPP-workers-clash-averted
