Apparent U-turn: PTI shelves plan to protest against ECP
Imran Khan-led party had earlier decided to launch a protest campaign against the provincial heads of ECP
Imran Khan addresses public rally in Sialkot on November 30, 2015. PHOTO: PPI
ISLAMABAD:
In another apparent U-turn, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has shelved the plan to demonstrate against the members of the country’s top election supervisory body and would, instead, wait for them to complete their term.
The Imran Khan-led party had earlier decided to launch a protest campaign against the provincial heads of the Election Commission of Pakistan after the judicial commission formed to investigate into alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections rejected the PTI’s accusations of vote fraud.
Imran had previously announced that a demo would be held in front of the ECP headquarters in the federal capital Islamabad on October 4, but then the venue was changed to the Constitution Avenue’s D-Chowk junction, where the PTI had protested for 126 days last year in a bid to push the ECP members to step down.
Insiders claimed that Imran had made the decision in isolation, not unlike the announcement of launching a civil disobedience drive during the party’s 126-day Azadi March that had kicked off last August. Both the decisions have been retracted. The October 4 rally was moved to October 9 for a showdown in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s stronghold Lahore, ahead of the NA-122 by-election.
Policy shift?
Regarding the PTI’s meeting in the capital, Imran had told the media on Monday that the party would take to the streets if the ‘ruling elite’ tried to replace the ECP members with ‘blue-eyed boys’ next year or if the incumbents remained in office after their tenure expired in June.
The announcement suggests that the PTI has dropped the idea of staging protests over the ECP members’ alleged partiality.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2015.
In another apparent U-turn, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has shelved the plan to demonstrate against the members of the country’s top election supervisory body and would, instead, wait for them to complete their term.
The Imran Khan-led party had earlier decided to launch a protest campaign against the provincial heads of the Election Commission of Pakistan after the judicial commission formed to investigate into alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections rejected the PTI’s accusations of vote fraud.
Imran had previously announced that a demo would be held in front of the ECP headquarters in the federal capital Islamabad on October 4, but then the venue was changed to the Constitution Avenue’s D-Chowk junction, where the PTI had protested for 126 days last year in a bid to push the ECP members to step down.
Insiders claimed that Imran had made the decision in isolation, not unlike the announcement of launching a civil disobedience drive during the party’s 126-day Azadi March that had kicked off last August. Both the decisions have been retracted. The October 4 rally was moved to October 9 for a showdown in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s stronghold Lahore, ahead of the NA-122 by-election.
Policy shift?
Regarding the PTI’s meeting in the capital, Imran had told the media on Monday that the party would take to the streets if the ‘ruling elite’ tried to replace the ECP members with ‘blue-eyed boys’ next year or if the incumbents remained in office after their tenure expired in June.
The announcement suggests that the PTI has dropped the idea of staging protests over the ECP members’ alleged partiality.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2015.