HYDERABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) have sought permission for the holding of their respective public meetings on the same day and same venue in Latifabad.

Both parties have submitted their respective applications with the Hyderabad deputy commissioner to hold the event at Bagh-i-Mustafa in Latifabad Unit-8 on Dec 8.

MQM-P chief Dr Farooq Sattar is scheduled to hold a press conference in Latifabad on Saturday. PSP leader Wasim Aftab visited Bagh-i-Mustafa on Friday evening.

The PSP had held its first public meeting in Hyderabad on Dec 23, 2016. The MQM-P had finalised the arrangements for the holding of its public meeting on Feb 17 but had to cancel it due to the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine carnage that took place a day earlier.

“I have advised both [MQM-P and PSP] parties to go for some other place in the city because Bagh-i-Mustafa is a park and holding of public meeting in it cannot be allowed,” said DC Mohammad Saleem Rajput while talking to Dawn on Friday evening.

He said that the MQM-P had approached him first and the PSP a couple of days later to seek the permission. But the permission was not given to any of them primarily on the ground that the proposed venue being a public park was not meant for the purpose, he said. He said the applicants were asked to propose some other venue.

The DC said that such applications would have to be considered in the light of the apex court’s observations regarding the ongoing sit-in being led by a religious outfit in Islamabad. He quoted one of the observations that why civil administrations did not consider public issues before allowing such protests.

He said the administration would consider public issues like infringement of people’s rights and traffic congestion before giving any of the parties the permission to hold public meeting at some other venue.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017