In an important development, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders have linked the postponement of the party’s protest at D-Chowk in Islamabad on October 15, on the occasion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference, to their meeting with former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.
During the party’s core committee meeting on Saturday, the party leaders said they would postpone the protest provided they were allowed to meet the former prime minister by Monday.
While on Sunday, PTI leader Sheikh Waqas Akram also said that the party was ready to take back its call for the protest if the government allowed him and other party leaders to meet Imran.
Emphasizing that those who were in power were also responsible for whatever good or bad happened to a country, the PTI leader made it clear to the government it would be responsible if any loss of life or property was caused during the protest.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday prior to the PTI’s core committee meeting, Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif, while accusing the PTI of trying to sabotage the SCO summit, said the state would use its full force to thwart the party’s onslaught. “They want the repeat of May 9 incidents of violence. Their only demand is the release of their leader presently in prison.”
Accusing the PTI of being bent upon spreading anarchy and creating a law and order situation in the country, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the party’s call for a protest on the occasion of the mega event was a ‘conspiracy’ against the state.
Another PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry said that the government would not restrict itself to condemnation of the party’s plans to disrupt the conference, but would also use its might to counter them.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said that all political parties were on the same page as far as the SCO conference was concerned and any demonstration on the occasion would be deemed to be an attack on the country’s security. “The PTI always tried to ruin the country’s peace,” he alleged.
The PTI’s political committee had on Friday once again announced plans to hold a protest at D-Chowk in Islamabad on October 15.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the party’s political committee in which Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was not present.
Following the meeting, PTI Secretary of Information Sheikh Waqas Akram issued a statement confirming that a large-scale protest will be held on October 15.
He further stated that all organisational heads, from the central committee to the regional level, had been instructed to prepare for the demonstration.
Reporter: Tayyab Saif