Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that no power will be able to stop the people from reaching Islamabad, Aaj News reported.
He said that the government was using old tactics to stop his party's planned long march. “If they believe that they can stop the long march with the use of force, they are mistaken,” Imran Khan said while giving an interview to a local news channel.
Khan said that he is sympathetic to the family of the martyred police constable who was shot dead while jumping into a house of a PTI activist in Model Town, Lahore on Monday.
He, however, said that the police officer who ordered the raid without the arrest warrants should be held responsible for the death of the constable.
Khan said that the PTI activist, who happens to be a former army officer, opened the fire in self-defense. “I will do anything to protect my family if someone barges into my house at night like this,” he said.
PTI's long march will not be allowed to enter Islamabad: Rana Sanaullah
Lashing out at the incumbent government, Khan said that slaves of America cracked down on PTI workers in Punjab and Sindh as if they were committing treachery.
“They broke into houses and harassed women, people have been caught and put in jails,” he said, adding that the sanctity of people’s houses has been violated.
Earlier, Khan said he has always carried out protests within the ambit of the constitution and law.
“We have never harmed anyone during our peaceful protests against the government,” he said while addressing PTI Youth Wing in Peshawar.
The former prime minister said that whenever the then opposition protested against the PTI-led government, their protests were allowed.
“Now the judiciary, the police, and our ‘neutrals’ are being tested to see who is following the law and who is following the orders of these corrupt people,” the ousted premier said.
Khan said that this would be the biggest public gathering in the history of the country.
“Tomorrow I will leave Peshawar for Islamabad where the youth will be with me who will remove all obstacles and whoever tries to stop the sea of people will be swept away,” he warned.
The former premier said that the nation would never accept the "imported government," adding that their campaign was not politics, but a "jihad for real independence."