LAHORE - In a major shift, the PTI has changed the aim of its Azadi march to toppling the Nawaz government, though it had earlier presented its electoral demands as the main purpose of the Independence Day showdown.
“We will march on Islamabad on August 14 despite all the odds and will not leave the federal capital until ending the dynastic rule of Sharif family,” Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced on Sunday.
“PTI will close down the entire business of the state if the government makes any bid to put me under house arrest to stop the tsunami marchers,” Imran warned in his address on the occasion of workers’ convention in the provincial capital.
He insisted: “I will make no deal with the ruling party to call off the Azadi march under any circumstances. I am not a businessman who makes deals to protect his financial interests. Making deals is the habit of the ruling family.”
Talking about the PTI parliamentarians resignations controversy, Imran said: “Resigning from assemblies is a minor issue as we are ready to give our life for the success of Azadi march to bring a real change in the country.
“Masses can hold accountable the head of the state but they cannot do it in a dynastic rule and ending the dynasty of Sharifs is necessary to bring true people’s rule.”
Imran said that Pakistan lacks real democracy and in the absence of a true democratic system, the country remains in the grip of the rich while the poor remain in the same position till their death.
Imran Khan said that Muslim rule was the best in the world till “our rulers had not converted the true system of Islamic governance into dynasties and our country was facing the same ill in the name of democracy”.
Questioning the merit of giving Rs100 billion Youth Loan Scheme at the disposal of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the PTI chairman said that nobody could call such things practices of a democratic setup. He said no relative of him (Imran) is part of the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. He added that Hamza Shahbaz Sharif was living like a prince only because of his being from the ruling dynasty.
Imran said a caravan of youth motorcyclists of the PTI will rally behind him on the launch of the Azadi march from Lahore. He said that working classes could live a respectable life only when the trend of ‘dynastic democracy’ ends.
The PTI chairman said he would expose all the culprits of 2013 poll rigging on August 14 ....all who had assisted the ruling family in stealing the people’s mandate. He claimed that incumbent chief election commissioner was part of poll rigging and he would make some shocking revelations about him and other characters before the launch of the march, while complete details would be made public on August 14 in Islamabad. He said the mandate of the ruling party is “fake and so is their performance”.
Also on Sunday, PTI senior leader and Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed talked to the media and claimed that the ruling party has allocated an initial secret fund of Rs1 billion to the authorities concerned to block the PTI march. He claimed that decision of releasing these funds was taken during Saturday’s Murree meeting which was chaired by Nawaz Sharif himself. He said that some bureaucrats and ministers had demanded funds to block the Azadi march and the finance minister was tasked to arrange the same on an emergency basis.