Long march schedule changed for third time

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Monday “Pakistan Army is ours and going against it is not possible”. Speaking during a meeting with representatives of the media bodies at his Zaman Park residence here on Monday, he said the personnel of the army standing guard at the borders were like his sons.

The PTI chief had been critical of the army since his ouster in April. However, he said on Monday that going against the institution was not an option for his party. He said that extension of the army chief was not an issue related to him.

The former premier had blamed three people, including a senior military official, for the Wazirabad attack and also called for their resignations. However, the army rejected the allegation and termed it “baseless”.

Imran Khan said the PTI long march would achieve its target of early elections date “no matter what the circumstances”. He said the party would back down only after getting the date for general elections.

He is currently recovering in Lahore from the bullet injuries that he sustained in the Wazirabad attempted assassination attack. He was discharged from Shaukat Khanum Hospital a day earlier.

However, it seems confusion prevails in the PTI cadres as different dates for resuming the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi March’ [real independence march] were announced by the party leadership on Monday. Imran Khan told the media persons he had changed the long march schedule and now it would resume on Wednesday, instead of Tuesday, as was announced by him earlier.

Another statement was issued through a tweet by a spokesperson for the Punjab government, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, saying that Wednesday (Nov 9) would be the new date for resuming the long march.

But Shah Mehmood Qureshi, party’s vice chairman, told a press conference at Zaman Park that march would resume on Thursday (Nov 10). The PTI leadership held the view that date of the march had been extended for making preparations and there existed no sort of confusion.

Qureshi also said that despite passage of many days, the first information report (FIR) of attack on Imran Khan had not been registered. “Registering an FIR is our topmost priority right now,” he added.

Imran said that Shah Mehmood Qureshi would lead the long march from Wazirabad and Asad Umar would lead the march from Faisalabad. He elaborated that the march that would be started from Faisalabad would reach Islamabad after trudging through Jhang, Sargodha Mianwali and Layyah.

Imran Khan said no compromise could be made with coalition rulers, including PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif.

Meanwhile, all efforts by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to convince Imran Khan not to nominate senior serving army official in the FIR of Wazirabad incident failed on Monday, as the latter refused to budge an inch on his stance.

Ch Parvez Elahi, along with senior party leaders Moonis Elahi and MPA Hussain Elahi, visited Imran Khan and held one-on-one meeting with him to discuss the FIR issue. He tried to convince his host not to ‘politicise’ the institution of Army, saying nominating a serving official of the armed forces would not serve the interest of the country, rather it could invite anger of the nation. However, the PTI chairman refused to backtrack on his stance.

Sources said the Azam Swati video issue also came under discussion. Parvez Elahi has 10 MPAs in the Punjab Assembly, and he is holding the CM office with the support of PTI. In case, the PTI withdraws its support, both Parvez Elahi and the PTI would lose the Punjab government. Later, a spokesperson for the Punjab government and a PTI MPA, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, rejected any FIR sans the names of accused given by Imran Khan. She said the nation would not accept any ‘cover-up’. “It is a matter related to the life of the most popular leader of the country, and no joke,” said Musarrat Cheema.