ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is all set to observe Youm-e-Shuhada (Martyrs’ Day) in Pakistan and different parts across the globe today (Sunday) in memory of its workers allegedly killed during the protest at D-Chowk Islamabad, last month.
In this regard, the main ceremony is being held at Hayatadad — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial capital of Peshawar — where the party has organised a condolence public gathering, Qura’n Khawani (Qura’nic recitation) and a prayers ceremony for the D-Chowk victims.
Apart from Peshawar, nationwide ceremonies including those in major cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit as well as other areas have been planned. Outside Pakistan, the PTI has announced public gatherings in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries.
Earlier on Thursday, the PTI quoted its founder and incarcerated formed Prime Minister Imran Khan as reiterating his two demands; probe of 9 May and 26 November incidents by a judicial commission comprising of three senior most Supreme Court judges, and release of political prisoners.
Khan, according to PTI, warned that a civil disobedience movement would be launched, if these demands are not met, the first step of which would be the reduction of remittances sent to Pakistan by overseas Pakistanis.
Separately, different PTI leaders have issued video messages and statements urging the public to actively participate in the Martyrs’ Day ceremonies.
The political party stated that at least 12 of its workers lost their lives when they were sprayed with bullets by the security forces during protest at D-Chowk on 26 November. Thousands of protestors from across the country left for D-Chowk on 24 November — seeking the release of Khan, who, the protestors said, was framed in politically motivated cases. The protestors were allegedly subjected to brutal torture at the hands of security forces when they reached the D-Chowk on 26 November.
More than 200 protestors are since missing and over 5,000 are languishing in jails in frivolous cases, says the PTI.
However, on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz from PTI said in the upper house of the Parliament that the D-Chowk victims’ death toll reached 13 with the death of one more protestor. But the political party has yet not disclosed the identity of the reported victim.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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