ISLAMABAD - Though the culmination date of sit-in of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not in sight, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday decided to expand the scope of its protest to other big cities, especially provincial capitals.
A core committee meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under the chair of its chief Imran Khan decided to stretch the party’s protest against alleged massive rigging in last general election to other cities. In this regard, the core committee decided to hold a protest rally in Karachi on Sunday and Imran Khan would visit the metropolitan city to address the rally. The Central Deputy Secretary General of PTI Imran Ismail would finalise the arrangements of the rally.
An official of the media wing of PTI said that the core committee meeting decided that the protest movement would be moved ahead in an effective way and in this connection PTI would hold protest rallies in the big cities on every Sunday.
He also informed that the committee said the government was propagating that it had accepted five and half demands of PTI. The committee was of the view that the statements from the government functionaries about the acceptance of five and half demands of PTI were not factual and it rejected such statements.
The chair was also informed that PTI had made the strategy to help the flood victims and in this regard the district level organisations of the party in Punjab had been instructed.
According to a PTI insider, Chairman Imran Khan in the meeting has again asked the party leadership to bring more people in the Friday’s protest sit-in. He asked the senior party leadership and other officer bearers of PTI that they should visit their respective constituencies and hometowns before Friday and should come from there in rallies to reach the Constitution Avenue on Friday.
The insider said that committee had also decided that party ticket would not be awarded to the son of PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the by-election of NA-149. The seat fell vacant after the resignation of PTI President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. The view within the party is that the ticket for this constituency should not be awarded to the son of Qureshi, as this step would negate Khan’s stance about not involving family in party politics, he said.
On the other hand, Imran Khan in his address to the participants of the sit-in on Wednesday night announced that he would visit Karachi on Sunday and address a big rally there. “I will hold a rally in Karachi, be ready, “ he addressed the residents of Karachi. “I will also participate in a sit-in like this in Karachi,” he added.
He again reiterated his stance that he would not leave the sit-in venue until the completion of his mission. “We will not go from here until the acceptance of our demands,” he said and predicted that there would be a flood a people at the sit-in on Friday. He said that people were participating in his sit-in despite police violence, terming it state terrorism. “The police violence cannot frighten us,” he said, adding that around five thousand of their workers were in jails.
Continuing with his allegations against the PML-N and Sharif family, Khan said that the son of Shahbaz Sharif was establishing a power plant amounting to Rs 7.5 billion. He said that Punjab had witnessed 2 million crimes during the last five years. “The cases of gang rapes increased up to 80 percent in Punjab,” he said, adding that 110 million people in Punjab were living below poverty line.
“The government should tell us why it increased electricity rates up to 80 percent,” he questioned and announced to set on fire his electricity bill at the sit-in on Friday.
Meanwhile, after incidents of scuffles of PTI workers with the police and the personnel of other law enforcement agencies, PTI workers on Wednesday started a fight themselves with one another at the protest sit-in. Some protestors were beating another protestor black and blue when the eyes of Imran Khan, while standing on the container, caught the scene. “Don’t do this, come here,” Imran said seeing the fighting workers. A protestor was serious injured in the incident and he was later shifted to the hospital through an ambulance. The fight started when a protester blamed another for taking pictures of a girl while using his mobile phone.