Imran leads long march on Islamabad today

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: PTI chief and former premier Imran Khan will lead the long march on Islamabad from Friday (today) claiming that it will free the nation in a true sense.

The long march will start from the Liberty Chowk and after passing through the Ferozepur Road, Icchra, Azadi Chowk, Mozang, Data Darbar side, it will move towards Muridke.

The march will enter Islamabad after passing through Kamonki, Gujranwala, Daska, Sumbrial, Lala Musa, Khariyan, Gujjar Khan and Rawalpindi. Imran along with his supporters is expected to stage a sit-in in the federal capital against the Shehbaz-led coalition government.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a friend and former schoolmate of Imran, was the interior minister when he staged a sit-in in Islamabad in 2014. However, this time, Rana Sanaullah Khan is the interior minister and clashes between the security forces and PTI supporters are quite likely.

Meanwhile, in a video message on Thursday, Imran said he will lead the long march from Liberty Chowk at 11am. “A small group commits theft and later gets the NRO.” “People should decide as to who should be assigned the leadership of the country,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a special message, Imran said the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi Long March’ was not for any personal or political interest to oust or to form government but to liberate the country from the thieves who had seized power to get their corruption cases waived off.

He reiterated that the march was for real independence of the country, where decisions could be made within the country, not outside. He said there should be justice in the country and everyone should be equal before the law, adding that progress and prosperity of a country could only be ensured when a just system was in place.

Imran said a small class of thieves was occupying the country’s resources and they committed robbery every time but got themselves off the hook through the NROs. He said the people had the right to elect government through free, fair and transparent elections, adding that they wanted a country for which the Quaid-e-Azam struggled and was dreamt of by Allama Iqbal.

Meanwhile, PTI Central Secretary Information Farrukh Habib came down hard on Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and alleged that a murderer and a fascist person sitting in the interior ministry had threatened the people but he would not be able to stop the tsunami of people come what may. In a strong-worded reaction to Sanaullah’s news conference, Farrukh Habib said Sana and other associates had started shivering out of fear after listening to the news of the long march.

“No matter what Rana does, he will not be able to stop a sea of people coming to the federal capital because they are fed up with these thieves,” he added. Meanwhile, talking to a news channel, Imran slammed the top brass of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) for holding a press conference while repeatedly claiming to be apolitical. “They held a press conference after claiming that they have distanced themselves from politics,” he said while talking to a news channel. “The press conference was not on security issues. It was a political presser,” he said, adding that the country will suffer if he responded to the press conference.

“Hostile forces want our army to be weak,” Imran said, reiterating that he did not say anything that would harm the army. “But when they do a press conference like this […] and if I start responding […] it will directly go on our army and I don’t want to hurt them in any way. This is why I always try my criticism to be constructive and beneficial,” Imran said.

“The press conference was unprecedented and never heard of. Either there should be some issue that concerns them, like security, but they held a political press conference so I don’t understand this. Could the defence or interior minister or prime minister not have done this? What was their [the institutions’] job in holding the press conference?”

Talking about the ‘backdoor talks’ issue, Imran said he knew long before the no-confidence vote that a ‘conspiracy’ was being hatched to topple his government. Imran said he had publicly said again and again that he had conveyed to Gen Bajwa that if at this time this conspiracy succeeded, the country’s economy will suffer. “I warned and said there were talks of an extension here. I told him that if they’re offering you [an extension], then we can do the same,” Imran said.