ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday said he would personally announce the date of his party’s protest march, which we would be fully prepared for, in the next few days.
Talking to reporters at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, the ex-premier said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had announced the PTI’s action plan during the November 9 political rally in Swabi.
“This time, our protest will continue, and our people will not go back to their homes until the constitution, democracy, and judicial independence is restored, and our innocent workers and leaders are freed,” he said.
The jailed leader underlined that he was ready to make every sacrifice for “genuine freedom for Pakistan.” PTI officials, members of parliament, organizers, ticket holders, workers and supporters should finalize preparations and begin efforts for on-ground mobilization, he added.
Addressing the Swabi rally, Gandapur had told the PTI workers to prepare for a “do-or-die” agitation for the release of party founder Imran Khan as they would soon hold a protest.
He urged the party workers to wait for the final call, which would be given by the jailed leader in November.
In the first week of October, Gandapur had led a protest march from Peshawar to Islamabad but it faced a bad end after the chief minister mysteriously disappeared leaving alone the protestors and supporters of PTI at Jinnah Avenue of the capital.
Separately, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram fired a broadside at the federal government for allegedly blocking virtual private servers (VPN), calling it a blatant attempt to suppress freedom of expression and access to information.
In a strongly-worded statement denouncing the government’s continued ban on X and its alleged efforts to control VPNs, the information secretary called upon the Shehbaz Sharif administration to focus on erecting a firewall against the terrorist threats rather than suppressing social media users.
Sheikh Waqas accused the government of prioritizing social media control over combating terrorism, saying that instead of devising a robust strategy to tackle terrorists, the “inept regime” was utilizing all its energy to muzzle social media aimed at keeping citizens in the dark about their “flawed policies and misdeeds.”
Sheikh Waqas emphasized that the government should not install a geo-fencing firewall to target the social media users and political opponents but to the terrorists, who were now targeting innocent people on a daily basis.
