Khan making it count – one protest at a time

• Large number of women and children take part in rally in defiance of Interior Ministry’s directives
• Imran demands revamping of ECP, votes verification in four constituencies, announces next public demonstration in Faisalabad next Friday along with a series of protests outside ECP
• Shaikh Rasheed seeks Skipper’s nod to ‘topple fake parliament in 10 minutes’
• Hashmi urges Nawaz to bring back looted money or face people’s wrath

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said his party would start nationwide protests if his charter of demands was not accepted.

Addressing thousands of charged and jubilant party workers and supporters at D-Chowk, Kaptaan announced his charter of demands. He urged the government to disband the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and form an independent body to ensure free, fair and transparent polls.

He also announced to hold next public demonstration in Faisalabad soon while sit-ins would be held outside the ECP on Fridays. The PTI chief warned the PML-N government that police torture could not stop the tsunami.

“We want an independent election commission which should control returning officers,” he added. He demanded that the government verify finger prints of the four constituencies mentioned by the PTI.

“Why are the rulers afraid if the match was not fixed? We only sought vote verification in only four constituencies. There is no threat to democracy. Vote fraud is biggest threat to democracy,” he added.

He urged the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to hold vote verification in PTI-proposed four constituencies.

“The matter must be investigated and the people involved must be brought to justice,” he added. He asked the returning officers to explain if some high-ups were also involved in vote fraud or it was a solo effort.

He also urged the government to introduce biometric system and AVM machines to ensure transparent polls. He said the government should implement the Supreme Court (SC)’s judgement to ensure right to vote to overseas Pakistanis.

Referring to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi, he urged the government not to install such people in the caretaker setup who could help rig polls.

“Those who are inducted into caretaker regime must not hold any public office for two years,” he added. He also announced to closely work with other parties to ensure free and fair polls.

He said that those nurtured by military dictators could not stop PTI’s ‘junoon’. He held the PML-N leadership for hypocrisy, saying that they allowed the PTI for the rally, but stopped the party workers from entering the capital.

He asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to learn how to play under neutral umpires, saying that the prime minister could only play with the connivance of umpires. He said he knew how to play under neutral umpires as his party was against vote fraud. He said planted umpired had helped Nawaz win the polls.

Quoting former NAB chairman Fasih Bokhari, the skipper said that Rs 12 billion corruption was being done everyday. He said the Asian Development Bank’s report had said that the Metro Bus Project could be completed with Rs 4 billion, but the government was spending Rs 24 billion for this purpose. He said Rs 500 billion was dolled out under the circular debt, adding that the power tariff had been doubled and the circular debt had again rose to Rs 300 billion.

He said unemployment was touching new highs. He alleged that the Sharifs were the biggest investors in the UK while Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his son were prime investors in Dubai.

He reminded Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif of his promise to bring back looted money which the latter made during election campaign in 2013. He said Dar had claimed to bring back $2 billion from Swiss banks, adding that if this wealth was returned then a 10-year tax holiday could be announced. He said that only a man whose wealth was not abroad could bring this looted money back to Pakistan. He congratulated the lawyer who filed a petition to bring back looted money stashed in Swiss banks.

He referred to the statement of Dr Hafeez Pasha and said that two generations could not be able to return the debt taken by the Nawaz-led government.

He said that those who formed Islami Jamhori Ittehad (IJI) with covert help from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) now were blaming the PTI for having support from agencies.

He said his party had used all legal forums to get justice during the past one year but justice was not delivered. He again held Jang/Geo group responsible for covert support to polls rigging. He acknowledged contributions by workers and journalists of Geo group, especially Hamid Mir, for democratic process.

“Media trial of our own ISI chief is unacceptable. When we stood by the armed forces, a defamatory campaign was launched against me,” he said and added that he could not be cowed down by anyone.

CHARGED PTI WORKERS:

The PTI workers vowed to carry forward the movement for getting the vote verification of four constituencies. Defying the ban imposed by the Interior Ministry, a large number of children and women took part in the rally.

The rally started at around 7pm, two hours late from scheduled time.

Lack of coordination was another hurdle for the workers coming from across the country. The PTI workers said the Punjab government created hurdles, blocked roads and forcibly closed down petrol pumps. They also said thousands of workers were not allowed to enter the capital.

Kaptaan reached the rally venue along with PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, President Javed Hashmi, General Secretary Jahangir Tareen and Awami Muslim League Chairman Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed.

‘BANK ROBBERS’:

In his speech, Shaikh Rasheed termed D-Chowk as Tahrir Square. The AML head said that the crowd needed Imran Khan’s nod to topple the “fake parliament” within 10 minutes.

He said he had defied terror threats to his life. He said the democracy could not be derailed as there was no democracy in the country. Terming the rulers as “bank robbers”, he said that people were suffering due to inflation.

Qureshi said, “This is an awami referendum against May 11 vote fraud. We waited for one year but now the party workers should tell us whether to make speeches or start an action.”

“Wherever you want an end to load shedding, invite Imran Khan for a rally,” he added.

BAGHI WARNS NAWAZ:

Javed Hashmi said that the people had reposed their confidence in Kaptaan by holding a protest meeting thrice the number as compared to the rally held on May 9, 2013.

He said that one-year grace period had ended for the government and now the public were fed up with lawlessness and flawed policies of the PML-N government. He asked Nawaz to bring back the looted money otherwise the people would throw him out of his palace.