“Peaceful Protest on the Streets Is Our Constitutional Right; We Are Not Coming Out with Any Weapons” — Salman Akram Raja
ISLAMABAD (Qudrat Daily): PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja has said that peaceful protest on the streets is our constitutional right — “we are not coming out with any weapons.” Yesterday, in a shop in Lahore, people asked, “Sir, tell us! What are the orders? Where do we have to come out on September 27?” It was encouraging that the nation has also come to know that oppression is being committed in the country.
Speaking to the media, he said that toppling any system is a revolutionary event, and revolutions are brought by nations, not just by political workers. Political workers are the vanguard — those who have chosen this duty for themselves — but ultimately the nation has to rise, the nation has to extend support. Therefore, we invite the entire nation to join this constitutional duty.
He said that in Pakistan today, elections have become a farce, and the sanctity of the veil and the four walls has been violated. “What has been happening across the country for the past few days — how women, the elderly, and children are being beaten. This should not lower our morale. We have to move forward with even greater determination; our objective is very noble.”
He said, “Let me tell you yesterday’s Lahore incident. I went to a market to gauge people’s sentiments. I went into a shop where fifteen to twenty people work. They all gathered around me and asked, ‘Sir, tell us — where do we have to come out on September 27? What are our orders?’ I said, ‘Keep up your courage; the Lahore organisation will tell you the time and place.’ I went to two or three more shops, and wherever I went, I saw the same situation. It is a welcome sign that the nation has come to know that oppression is being committed in the country, and we have to end this oppression. Without preparation, without any notice, the way ordinary shopkeepers and workers spoke and expressed their emotions was very encouraging for me.”
Salman Akram Raja said that regarding September 27, in the petition filed by a citizen, “we have not even been made a party. The Constitution permits us to hold peaceful protests, to gather on the streets, and to speak for our rights. We are not coming out with any weapons — as citizens, we have to protest while demanding our rights.”
He said, “As a lawyer, it is a strange thing for me that what concern do the other provinces have with this? Why has the court summoned the chief secretaries of all four provinces? Let us see what the court wants to do. Across the country, hundreds of our workers are being abducted and arrested without any case. In Mianwali, an elderly man was picked up from a hospital. The situation is before the entire nation. We tell the nation: come out of your homes — peaceful protest is your right.”
Salman Akram Raja said that today the hearing of the case was held in which they want Imran Khan’s Twitter account to be shut down. “Since last November, an absurd situation has been ongoing — Khan is neither allowed to appoint a lawyer in it nor is he being allowed to meet his lawyer. Our request was that the court even ordered in November 2025 that I be allowed to meet him immediately, but the order was violated. We have also filed a contempt of court petition. The situation is that neither are we being allowed to meet him nor is the proceedings of this case taking place.”
