Imran Khan cancels Youhanabad visit abruptly

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The day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced to end the boycott of the parliament, and after his decision was termed as a “major U-turn,” Khan took another U-turn by cancelling his visit to Youhanabad – the largest Christian locality of the country.

The arrangements for the welcome of PTI chairman were in full swing in the locality, where he was scheduled to come on Friday (today) for a cake cutting ceremony of Christmas, but he cancelled his plan abruptly because December 16 happens to be the anniversary of Army Public School (APS) attack in which more than 140 people were killed.

There is a long list of events where Imran Khan took U-turns abruptly causing embarrassment for the party since the general elections of 2013 were held. Imran Khan had lauded the appointment of Fakhruddin G Ebrahim as Chief Election Commissioner prior to the elections of 2013, but it was the same Khan who started criticising Ebrahim and raised question marks over his appointment after facing defeat in the elections. He levelled allegations of rigging the election of 2013 on former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and former caretaker chief minister of Punjab Najam Sethi, but could not prove those allegations in the judicial commission. The judicial commission to probe the rigging of 2013 elections was made on the demand of Imran Khan, but he did not accept the findings of the commission when the decision did not come in his favour.

The latest U-turn of Khan came when he decided to end the boycott of the parliament after more than two months, as he had earlier announced after the Panama Leaks not to attend the sittings of the parliament till the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“We had arranged a gathering of five to six thousand people in a community hall spanning an area of over 10 Kanal,” the Youhanabad Union Council Chairman Asif Sohail Khokhar told Pakistan Today, who himself hails from the Christian community and got elected on the ticket of PTI. He further added that the programme was cancelled when the KP chief minister announced a public holiday to mark the second anniversary of APS attack and it does not seem good to hold any festive function on a day when the party is mourning in another province.

“The Christmas function and the arrival of Imran Khan will be rescheduled in Youhanabad after taking time from Khan Sahib who is arriving in Lahore on Friday,” PTI’s general secretary of Lahore chapter Hammad Azhar said while talking to Pakistan Today. He was of the view that Khan will attend a function of Namal College during his stay in Lahore and there are some indoor meetings scheduled with party workers.

Party’s lawmakers and workers, including MPA Mian Aslam Iqbal, MPA Shunila Ruth, Hammad Azhar and Zaheer Abbas Khokhar were busy in the arrangements for the welcome of their chairman for the last many days in Youhanabad.

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