Panama leaks: PTI announces series of protests after Eid

Lahore chapter of Imran’s party will participate in PAT’s June 17 protest

ISLAMABAD: A day after talks between the government and the opposition over terms of reference (ToRs) for the Panamagate inquiry collapsed, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formally announced its plans for a series of protests after Eidul Fitr.

The decision came following a meeting at the residence of the PTI chairman on Wednesday which was attended by the party’s senior leadership.



“It has been decided that the PTI will formally launch protests after Eid,” party’s central information secretary Naeemul Haque told The Express Tribune. He said the government had only 20 days to live up to the opposition’s expectations regarding the ToRs issue.

On Tuesday, talks between the government and the opposition over ToRs collapsed after eight rounds of negotiations as both sides even failed to finalise the next date for the meeting of the parliamentary panel and the government announced it had an option to unilaterally decide the matter.



According to Haque, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the PTI representative on the parliamentary committee on ToRs, briefed the leadership over the progress on the issue so far. “Qureshi is disappointed. He has told the party leadership that sitting in the committee anymore will be a waste of time,” he said.



Haque said PTI is currently finalising the mode of its planned protests. He added that the PTI leadership has been tasked to consult other opposition parties to evolve consensus over launching a protest from a joint platform.

The meeting also decided that PTI’s Lahore chapter will participate in and extend all-out support to Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT’s) planned ‘grand protest’ on Mall Road on June 17 against the Model Town killings by the police.

The PTI supports PAT’s demand to make the Justice Baqir Commission report over the Model Town tragedy public, Haque said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2016.