RAWALPINDI: As Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) gears up to stage a protest on February 8 against what it calls rigging in the 2024 general elections, and plans to observe a shutter-down strike and wheel jam, traders in the garrison city have refused to support the call.
Traders said shops and markets would remain open as usual. The main traders’ associations said PTI had neither contacted them nor would they participate in any strike.
However, PTI local leaders and workers blamed weak organisation in the party over the past two years, which they said had failed to contact traders for support for the February 8 protest and to mobilise old workers and activists.
Rawalpindi Traders Association President Sharjeel Mir told Dawn that PTI had made no contact with traders and no one had approached them for a shutter-down strike. “Neither did they contact us nor will we join them for a shutter-down strike. We will keep shops and markets open, and it is the duty of the administration to ensure that no one forces shopkeepers to go on strike,” he said.
Rawalpindi Anjuman Tajraan President Shahid Gafoor Paracha questioned who would observe the strike. He said traders would not become part of any political agenda, adding that they had suffered during the tenure of PTI-led governments in the past. He said there would be no strike or wheel jam in the garrison city and that PTI had not contacted traders. He reiterated that traders would not be part of any PTI agenda.
Rawalpindi Cantonment Traders Association General Secretary Zafar Qadri said there would be no strike in cantonment areas on February 8 and all bazaars would remain open. “In the past, shops remained closed on Sundays due to the weekly off, but due to financial constraints, most shopkeepers now keep their shops open on Sundays as well,” he said.
When contacted, PTI district president Amir Afzal said PTI would stage a protest on February 8 against alleged poll rigging in 2024 and would observe a shutter-down strike and wheel jam. “For this purpose, traders and transporters were contacted and requested to observe the strike. We are working in all tehsils of Rawalpindi, including Gujar Khan, Kallar Syedan and Taxila, as well as in the garrison city,” he said.
He said workers had been informed about the party’s decision to observe a wheel jam and shutter-down strike and to stage protests at the union council level. However, he said there was no call for any public meeting yet.
On the other hand, PTI Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Arif Abbasi said the party needed to organise itself in the garrison city, which he said still had a large number of PTI supporters.
He said no CEC meeting had been held for many months and that all matters were being discussed only in the political committee, while Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan was making decisions for PTI. He said workers and activists wanted action for Imran Khan but did not buy into the narrative.
Mr Abbasi, who served as PTI district president of Rawalpindi for 10 years, said that from 2010 to 2022 the PTI Rawalpindi organisation was a model, with more than 25,000 office-bearers. “If the party organises itself there, it would not need to call people from other districts to stage protests. There were 228 union councils, each with six wards, and each ward had four to five block codes, with one block code comprising 300 houses,” he said.
Zayad Kayani, PTI ticket-holder for the Punjab Assembly from cantonment areas, told Dawn that the party had started work for February 8, but it was the responsibility of national leaders to coordinate with traders’ associations for the strike call.
He said they had received messages about protests at the union council level and the strike and were working at their own level. He added that the administration and local police had started chasing workers.
Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2026