PTI psyches itself up for Raiwind march

Imran predicts there will be no headway on Kashmir issue at UN General Assembly

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has begun psyching itself up for the Raiwind march, instructing its leaders in different provinces to attend the one-day protest rally likely to be staged on September 30.

To shore up public participation in the rally, the opposition party has announced plans to appoint coordinators in 10 districts of central and northern Punjab. PTI will be sending text messages and recorded calls in a bid to boost public attendance.



“The SMS service and recorded calls will cost around Rs5 million, which will be paid out of the party funds,” said a party leader.

Provincial party leaders have been asked to attend the party’s core committee meeting and the workers’ convention scheduled to be held on Sunday (September 18) in Islamabad.

“I will announce the exact date, time and venue of the protest on Sunday,” PTI chief Imran Khan told media persons outside his residence in Bani Gala on Friday.

One of its main allies Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has already distanced itself from the proposed march.



But the party’s vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said PTI is still in contact with like-minded parties. “We have assured the likeminded parties, including PAT and PML-Q, that our protest will not be held near the residence of the Sharif family,” Qureshi said.

Imran Khan speaks to media

PTI chief Imran Khan has predicted that there will be no headway on the crunch question of Kashmir at the UN General Assembly and that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the United States as no more than “a leisure trip”.



“Mian Sahib is going to the US for shopping and touring,” Imran said.

“It is unfortunate that someone, facing severe corruption charges back home, will represent Pakistan at the UN General Assembly,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to leave for the US on September 19.

The PTI chief said that he sees “no difference between the dictatorship of Pervez Mushrraf and Nawaz Sharif’s democratic regime”.

“The Sharifs have been destroying state institutions, which are supposed to hold the corrupt accountable to save their corruption,” he alleged.

“Their (PML-N) overall reaction to the Panama issue proves that they have committed the crime of looting public money to shore up their accounts,” Imran claimed.

He said that the government’s response forced him and his party to take to the streets.

Imran reiterated that the premier’s name should be included in the exit control list.

According to Imran, Tahirul Qadri is also desperately trying to get justice for those killed in the Model Town incident in 2014. “PTI will continue its unconditional support to PAT’s movement for justice for Model Town victims,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2016.