ABBOTTABAD
Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that he would lead three million people in his march on Islamabad later this month and that the government would not be able to stop him by installing shipping containers on the roads.
Addressing a public meeting of his party at the College Ground in Abbottabad on Sunday afternoon, Imran Khan said that his opponents claim that the summer heat would not allow people to leave their homes to march on Islamabad, but he believes that heat cannot deter brave youth and sisters.
Imran Khan said he has a belief in Pakistanis that they would stand with him against the ‘Imported government’. He said the people of Abbottabad proved that the nation was standing against the “Mir Jaffar” and “Mir Saddiq” of this era.
Imran said he would announce the date for the march after May 20. The former prime minister said that current rulers had taken power after collaborating with the United States but the Pakistani nation would never accept them.
He said he never wanted to join the US war on terror and was holding negotiations with Russia for the import of fuel and wheat at cheaper rates. Imran Khan used derogatory words for JUI-I leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
“The Americans did not want a prime minister [in Pakistan]. They wanted a head of the country like Musharaff, who surrender on a single phone call. They wanted a cherry-blossom, who polishes shoes, who says that beggars are not chooser.”
Imran Khan then used strong language against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “If you believe that for you we would be enslaved to the United States, don’t be misled,” he said. He said that when he gave call for the march, the entire nation would arrive in Islamabad to give messgat the “imported government not acceptable.”
Imran Khan said that ever since the new government had taken power the prices of food items had gone up and that TV journalists should go out to know what people say.
Imran Khan accused the media of accepting bribes and said that it was not highlighting the the issue of inflation after his ouster as it did before. The rally at the College Ground in Abbottabad began Sunday afternoon and PTI supporters attended.
Addressing the rally, Ali Muhammad Khan said that PTI would return to the National Assembly with a two-third majority and would not only create the South Punjab province but also support the call for a separate province for the people of Hazara region.
“We will come with two-third majority and Insha Allah create the South Punjab province. And for your Hazara province, on the floor of the National Assembly and Senate whether it is Azam Khan Swati or me we stood there to speak that whatever people of Hazara want Imran Khan and PTI would give them Insha Allah.”
People in the Hindko speaking Hazara region have been demanding a separate province for years. Ali Muhammad Khan said people of Abbottabad should tell him if they would resist the “oppression.”
Earlier, addressing the rally Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former interior minister, Sheikh Rahseed Ahmad, said that all the political parties were ready for fresh election except Asif Ali Zardari and his PPP.
Sheikh Rasheed has given a strategic guideline to his coalition party—the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and participants of the Long March.
Sh Rasheed stressed holding early elections if Pakistan is to be saved. He declared the PTI’s current campaign against the sitting government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his political partners a movement of ‘Do or die’.
Giving a strategic guideline to the protesters and participants of the expected long march from PTI Chairman Imran Khan in this month, he advised them to sit where they are stopped and continue their protest against the ‘Imported government’.
Sh Rasheed said there are cases of corruption against the sitting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and this is the reason of not receiving honour in the Gulf countries.
Former NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri said that the government was lodging FIRs against the PTI workers, but the party would not be cowed. Imran Khan said he would never accept the slavery of the USA but ever serve Pakistan as my homeland and the nation as my people.
PTI Chairman Imran said he was going to make a deal with Russia to get oil and diesel at cheap prices and that was the reason he was ousted from power corridors.
Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Shehryar Afridi, Qasim Soori, Pervez Khattak, and other PTI leaders addressed the rally.
People from Abbottabad Galyat, Circle Balkot, Circle Lora and Tanawal participated in the rally in big numbers. At least 1,000 policemen have been deployed at the venue to ensure security.
Due to growing summer heat many of the supporters were seen taking shelter under trees. The PTI has finalized a strategy for bringing millions to Islamabad for long march and avoiding arrests and has conveyed to third-tier leadership of the party.
According to the plan, the party would bring 500,000 people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 600,000 from Punjab and Sindh while 100,000 from Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan. =DNA
