AUGUST 14: DESTINATION ISLAMABAD!

Giving the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League government a month’s time to comply with his four demands, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Friday told his party’s supporters in Bahawalpur that they will take out a million-man ‘tsunami march’ on August 14 in Islamabad if his demands were not met.

“The entire Pakistan knows that the general elections on May 11, 2013 were rigged but we accepted the results in larger national interest,” Khan said, adding that the time to verify votes in the four constituencies was over as the PTI had now decided to completely reject the May 11 election. He also invited other political parties to join the PTI’s ‘Tsunami March’ after Eidul Fitr in case the government failed to satisfy his demands.

THE FOUR DEMANDS:

The PTI chief’s first demand is to know how Nawaz Sharif declared the PML-N victorious at 11.20pm on the night of the elections when only 15 per cent of the results had come. Khan’s second demand was to know the role played by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the elections. Thirdly, he demanded to know the role played by the caretaker government in the election, specifically highlighting the “35 punctures” fixed by Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi, who was the then caretaker chief minister of Punjab. His final demand was of the government to answer about vote fraud in 90 constituencies, asking why votes from 35 constituencies were replaced by the returning officers.

“The Election Commission should have resigned immediately following revelations of such massive vote fraud but they are still shamelessly clinging onto their positions,” said the PTI leader.

PML-N GOVT’S QUESTIONABLE ACTIONS:

Khan lashed out at the PML-N government in Punjab over its handling of the Model Town incident in which over 14 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were gunned down by police personnel during an ‘anti-encroachment’ operation outside the Minhajul Quran Secretariat and PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence. More than 80 PAT supporters were reported injured in the clashes.

He said that former Punjab IG Abbas Khan in a 1993 report had stated that 25,000 policemen had been recruited in Punjab Police during the Nawaz regime bypassing merit. “The former IG also wrote that several of those recruited in the force had criminal records,” he added.

“I have never witnessed such barbarity on unarmed innocent protesters even during dictatorships in the country,” he said, adding that PTI is not derailing democracy rather it was a family mafia that has grabbed democracy.

“How can the PML-N claim it is a democratic party when the elder brother is the prime minister, the younger one is the chief minister, the daughter of the prime minister has been made chief of the government’s billion-rupee programmes, a nephew has been made a minister for water and power while a close relative heads the Finance Ministry.

“The PML-N claims that Pakistan has made economic growth during their term but all I can see is the ‘Jangla Bus Service’ (the Metro Bus Project in Lahore). They (Sharifs) keep on saying they’ll bring foreign investment to the country while their own capital is invested in other countries,” he said.

Khan also criticised the Punjab Police, saying the force had become “slaves” of the ruling party rather than being servants of the state. “I warn you not to hurt even one PTI supporter during the ‘tsunami march’ else I will hang you by the neck myself,” he added.

POLITICS ON IDPs:

Criticising Prime Minister Sharif for doing politics on internally displaced persons (IDPs) of NWA, Khan said that he had been invited to visit the IDPs with the PM but “there was no point in going with Sharif for a photo session”.

“If the prime minister was actually concerned about the IDPs he would have informed me and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government about the operation beforehand,” said Khan.

Saying that the burden of IDPs will fall on the KP government, Khan said that he and his government in the province could not prepare for the IDPs as they found out that the army has launched a military operation in North Waziristan through television channels. Khan questioned why the Punjab and Sindh governments have refused to let the IDPs enter their provinces, saying it was time for all Pakistanis to unite and show compassion for their displaced brethren.

PTI LAWMAKERS TOLD TO SUBMIT RESIGNATIONS:

Meanwhile, media reports said that PTI lawmakers in Punjab and the National Assembly have been told to submit their resignations to the party leadership in wake of the decision to launch an anti-government agitation.

“Thirty MPAs from Punjab Assembly and 34 MNAs will submit their resignations before the long march,” the media report quoted a PTI source as saying.

The report said that PTI has decided not to dissolve the KP Assembly as it would be needed to support the party’s long march. Further, the party leadership has also asked PTI lawmakers to start informing their concerned constituencies and supporters about their likely resignations to prepare them for the planned long march.