Imran, Qadri to launch anti-govt rallies

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan will lead a party rally from Peshawar on August 7 towards Islamabad to push for the accountability of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his family for owning offshore assets. The rally will end the same evening.

The party is also considering filing a petition with the Supreme Court against the Sharif family’s assets. The petition has been prepared by Naeem Bokhari, who has joined PTI recently.

Imran chaired a meeting of the PTI’s core group’s meeting here at Bani Gala, which reviewed preparations for the proposed drive and its other options against corruption and to hold prime minister and his children accountable for their offshore properties. 

The forum pondered over all possible legal and constitutional means to exert pressure on the government for accountability of the prime minister and his children. The party had launched its Azadi March from Lahore, which culminated into a 126-day sit-in in the federal capital.

It is not clear why the party leadership decided to kick off its drive from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI will also hold a protest demonstration on August 14. Protests will also be held in different cities each Saturday.

An interesting aspect of the meeting was that the PTI team will attend the ToRs committee meeting summoned by the government on August 6.  “Gauging the mood of the government, the future line of action will be decided,” PTI Information Secretary Naeemul Haq told media persons after the meeting.

He said the purpose of the rally was to create awareness among the public about corruption and how the ruling elite had joined hands to deprive people of the fruits of democracy. No public meeting has been planned yet to mobilise the masses for the PTI’s cause.      

Haq maintained that the party would also wait for the hearing to be held at the Election Commission of Pakistan on August 3 on the four references filed by the PTI, PPP, PAT and AML, seeking disqualification of the prime minister. 

The meeting, he noted, also strongly condemned the ongoing wave of terrorism unleashed by Indian forces on innocent Kashmiri people in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and urged the international community to play its role for giving the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

Imran said Pakistan was at the critical juncture of its history. He said August will be the starting point of a new history in Pakistan, as the political elite posed biggest threat to democracy.

He said Turkish people had played a stronger role than their politicians for safeguarding democracy.

The names of party office-bearers for Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also been decided during the meeting, which would be announced shortly. The forum decided to further delay the intra-party election. 

Jehangir Tareen, Assad Qaiser, Saifullah Niazi, Dr. Shireen Mazari, Naeem Bokhari, Ch. Sarwar and others attended the meeting. Meanwhile, demanding Qisas for the Model Town victims and a fair probe into the PanamaLeaks, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has announced to launch a countrywide campaign against the government from August 6.

The decision was taken in a meeting of likeminded opposition parties chaired by the PAT Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri at Model Town on Sunday. 

The meeting was attended by PPP Secretary General Sardar Latif Khosa, former president of PPP central Punjab Manzoor Wattoo, opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, AML President Sheikh Rashid, PML-Q leaders Kamil Ali Agha and Bashir Cheema, Sunni Ittehad Council leader Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Pak Sarzameen Party leader Raza Haroon, former MNA J Saalik and others.

The meeting passed an eight-point joint declaration which demanded Qisas for the Model Town victims, probe against Sharif family for its involvement in PanamaLeaks, operation against terrorists and their facilitators in Punjab.

Talking to media after the meeting, the PAT chief said the joint initiative by opposition against the looters of national wealth and murderers of innocent people in Model Town would be a tremendous success.

He said in the first phase of the anti-government movement, protest demonstrations would be held in Karachi, Lahore, Chiniot, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Ghotki and Islamabad.  On August 20, rallies would be held in Hyderabad, Okara, Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Bhakkar and Gujrat, he added

Khosa said worst brutality and oppression were perpetrated in Model Town under the present government, whose precedent was not even found in eras of Mongols. He said the PPP expressed complete support to the demand of justice raised by the families of Model Town victims. Sheikh Rashid said his party too had planned to launch an anti government movement from August 13 and the joint move would be result-oriented.