LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that its ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march will resume on Thursday (November 10) instead of November 8.
This is the third time the party has changed the date for the long march. First, the party had said the march will resume on Tuesday (November 8) but later changed it to Wednesday (November 9) and now PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while talking to the media outside the residence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Monday, announced the revised date.
Qureshi said that registration of a First Information Report (FIR) on the Wazirabad attack was their top-most priority right now; “after 72 hours of the incident the FIR was not registered and now the SC has ordered the Punjab Police to register the case within 24 hours.
Keeping this in mind and reviewing the current situation, the party has decided that our immediate focus should be on the FIR. Hence, the long march has been postponed till November 10,” he added. He further said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was clear on the incident, which was written in his complaint, and thus he (Khan) was adamant that the FIR must be registered as per the content of his application.
Earlier, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a press conference said that the long march will start from the same point where the attack took place in Wazirabad; “the former Prime Minister will lead the rally from Rawalpindi to the Capital and hopefully he would have recovered from his injuries by then”. “Khan has decided that he will address the people through a video link everyday when the convoy sojourns,” he added.
Imran Khan says PTI's long march to resume from Wazirabad on Tuesday
Qureshi said, “Ahmed Chatha, PTI ticket-holder from Wazirabad, will also join the rally; he was also injured during the attack, but he was adamant to join the march with his injuries. Our peaceful caravan will continue till true freedom is achieved, which also means attaining rule of law and justice,” he added.
Qureshi expressed resentment over the statement of Pakistan Democratic Movement leaders, calling the whole incident a drama, “they should ask the mother of Moazzam Gondal (who was killed in the attack) and the people receiving injuries that was it a drama”. He averred that the attack on Imran Khan was very dangerous.
He was not hopeful of getting justice; “what I have seen so far on the matter, it was not encouraging; hence they have decided to take the case to the people’s court”. Recalling his recent statement on the Punjab Police, Qureshi said it was directed towards the Inspector General of Police Punjab only.
He averred it was expected that his subordinates would follow his orders and register the FIR. “If he was hapless on the matter and his subordinates were facing pressure (not to register the FIR) then he should tell everyone the reason for it,” he added.
To a question, he maintained that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was standing with Imran Khan and he has ensured Khan during a recent meeting that his (Khan) instructions will be followed by the Punjab government; “the CM has said many times before that he stands by Imran Khan’s side and there should be no ambiguity in it”. “Had he distanced himself from the PTI, why the CM was willing to host Khan in Gujrat,” he added. Expressing his gratitude to the countries who inquired about the PTI Chairman’s health, Qureshi said he talked to the Turkish Foreign Minister, who offered medical treatment for Khan in Turkey.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.