The management of the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore on Thursday ripped off the astroturf in order to prepare the stadium for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) rally scheduled to take place on August 13.

The astroturf will now be placed on the Sargodha Hockey Stadium as the previous government had given permission for installation of a new turf on the Lahore ground.

While the stadium falls under the ambit of Sports Board Punjab, the approval for holding the rally to PTI was given by the district authorities. A tender will be floated for purchase and installation of the new turf.

Imran changes venue of Aug 13 rally to Lahore

As per media reports, Punjab Sports Minister Malik Taimur Masood Khan stated that the previous government decided to shift the turf of Lahore ground to Sargodha.

Earlier, the rally was supposed to be held in Islamabad’s parade ground on August 13 however, the PTI on Monday decided to change the venue of the event to Lahore.

The event would be held in connection with Independence Day celebrations.

The decision to shift the power show venue to Lahore was taken at the party’s political committee meeting chaired by PTI Chief Imran Khan which was also attended by senior party leadership.

“The PTI will celebrate the 75th Independence Day at Hockey Stadium in Lahore on August 13-14 night," announced the PTI on its official twitter handle.

The PTI chairman, according to sources, said that with the August 13 grand power show, there will be beginning of a revolution, adding things have now changed completely and now no power can stop early elections in the country to get rid of the “imported regime”.

“The people will not back down from their demand of free, fair and transparent elections as this is the only solution to overcome the political and economic challenges confronting the country," the PTI chief was quoted as saying.