Imran set to lead long march from Lahore on Friday

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Monday announced that the long march against the coalition government will begin from Liberty Chowk on Friday and urged his workers and supporters to gather at the designated place.

Imran disclosed his plan while talking to media persons at the 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam here. Imran said during his tenure as prime minister, three long marches — two led by JUIF chief Fazlur Rehman and one by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari — were held. “At that time, they disregarded the economic situation of the country,” he said.

The PTI chief said PMLN leader Maryam Nawaz also tried to hold a long march against the PTI government but it could not pass Gujjar Khan. Grilling the ruling coalition, he said they purchased loyalties and set up markets of horsetrading at the Sindh House.

Imran dared PMLN Quaid Nawaz Sharif to stop his march in Punjab and challenged Asif Ali Zardari to save his politics in Sindh. He said the PTI’s next plan was to win Sindh. The former premier further said PTI’s peaceful activists were targeted on May 25 and after its victory in July 25 elections, a number of FIRs were registered against him.

He said when the PTI came to power, the country was on the verge of default and his government focused on improving growth and enhancing exports, which were up by 3 percent. He said the PTI government efficiently combated the Covid-19 crisis whereas its billion trees tsunami project was acknowledged by the world.

Geo News adds: Imran termed the long march “far above” politics and said the move was tantamount to jihad as it was now a decisive moment for the people of Pakistan to choose their sides.

“This march will decide whether the people want to do slavery of these thieves or not. There is our march for Haqeeqi Azadi and it has no time-frame. We will reach Islamabad from the GT Road and the nation will come from across Pakistan to Islamabad,” he maintained.

Explaining how the government issued warnings to the PTI in relation to the long march, Imran said when he was the premier, JUIF chief Fazlur Rehman, PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz and PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari held two long marches. The government approached the Supreme Court earlier to stop the PTI’s long march. However, the apex court rejected the request to issue an interim order for stopping the planned long march — giving a boost to the Khan-led party. Before it approached the top court, the government issued repeated warnings to the PTI chief, with a top official saying that the authorities would multiply their May 25 policy by 10 if Khan announces another long march.

If the PTI holds another long march, then it would be the second time they would be coming to Islamabad. The last march was held on May 25 and ended with Khan abruptly calling off the march after reaching Islamabad. Khan, during the presser, added that he was supposed to start the long march much earlier but the government created hindrances for the party.

“On May 25, our peaceful marchers were attacked and we had to call it off just for the sake of the country. Horsetrading took place in Sindh House and our government was forcefully toppled. And when I won the July by-elections, I was bombarded with court cases,” the PTI chief lamented.

He added that so far, the coalition government had registered 24 first information reports (FIRs) against him. Commenting on speculations about negotiations with the coalition government, Imran said he had repeatedly emphasised that political parties create problems by holding negotiations. “I am sure they [coalition government] will not announce snap polls, as they aren’t ready to play the match,” he claimed, adding that the long march would remain peaceful and that there was no need to bring police personnel to the capital from Sindh.

“PTI’s public gatherings and jalsas have always remained peaceful as families also participate,” he said while questioning what would the police do when millions of people will join the march. He challenged PML-N and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari to contest against the PTI in Punjab and Sindh so that he [Khan] could see how they win seats. Imran claimed that the PTI workers in Multan were receiving phone calls from unknown numbers through which they were threatened not to participate in the long march.

“Do they [the government] expect the nation to sit silently like sheep?” he questioned, adding that as long as he was alive, he will continue fighting all the “thieves and this system”. He also reiterated that he was the leader of a big political party, therefore, he had no need to beg the United States to make decisions for Pakistan.

Stressing that the PTI was a powerful party, he said over the last six months, he had successfully brought people out on the streets to fight injustice. “We are neither going to fight [the government] nor going to the Red Zone,” he said, stressing that the PTI will only hold jalsas in places where the court had permitted it to do so.

“We have instructed all of our marchers to remain peaceful to avoid any untoward situation,” he said. Responding to the allegations levelled against him by his opponents for being “irresponsible” for holding a march when the country was undergoing a crisis, Imran said when he had taken the office of prime minister, Pakistan was suffering from the “worst economic” situation.

“At that time, the country had no foreign exchange reserves to support the falling rupee,” he said, adding to top it all, his government also had to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Praising the former PTI-led government, Imran said once the country successfully tackled the Covid-19 pandemic, it saw an exemplary growth, which had not been witnessed in the last 17 years.

“We employed efforts to help the farmers and as a result, they were able to grow high-quality crops. Our IT exports increased three-fold due to the PTI government’s policies,” he recalled. He also extolled the PTI government’s health-card initiative and said such schemes were not even found in the most developed countries of the world. Referring to his political opponents, the PTI chief further said ‘dacoits’ saved themselves after assuming power and amended selected laws, especially the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance. “One can see clear differences between today’s Pakistan and the one that we left,” he said, urging people to compare the prices of electricity, oil and gas during the PTI’s tenure and under the current government’s rule.

To a question, Imran said, “We are always ready for holding talks. However, I am sure that they will not hold elections. In the previous elections, they failed to win the polls despite vote-rigging.” “They are trying to stop me from taking part in the elections through illegal moves. They tried to disqualify me in foreign funding case and now in Toshakhana case.”