Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) senior member Aleem Khan Monday (today) rejected the idea that the PTI’s protest will take place outside the prime minister’s Jati Umrah residence.
“Our opposition thinks the march will be near PM Nawaz Sharif’s house, but it’s not. It is 5-10 kilometres away from his house,” says Aleem Khan.
The response came after Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah’s expressed his party’s reservations about the march.
“We will never support the idea of staging a demonstration outside the residence of any opponent,” Shah said.
Aleem Khan’s statement are a reflection of PTI’s last-ditch attempt to get opposition parties on board including Leaders of the PPP, the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) for the upcoming Raiwand march.
“We don’t want to attack his house… Raiwind is just like any other area in Lahore,” Aleem Khan said, adding that just because someone’s house in a certain area does not mean a rally cannot be staged there.
“They [members of the opposition] are not from Lahore, they don’t know this place is far from Nawaz Sharif’s house,” the PTI leader said. The march, he said, “has nothing to do with the prime minister’s residence, except that one path leads towards his house”.
“It will be a peaceful protest. This is a guarantee to the entire nation,” Khan said. “I request the police and government not to intervene, otherwise there will be retaliation… We [the PTI] will monitor the path leading towards Jati Umrah ourselves, we guarantee this,” he said.