Strategy prepared for Imran to dodge arrest

‘Galaxy’ of supporters will flank PTI chief at Panamagate hearing

ISLAMABAD: The senior leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) put their heads together on Sunday to chalk out a strategy aimed at dodging the government’s efforts to arrest their leader when he plans to make an appearance in the apex court on Tuesday.

The conclave decided that Imran Khan will be flanked by a ‘galaxy’ of his supporters when he leaves his Bani Gala residence for the Supreme Court to witness the proceedings of a crucial case involving the Panamagate.



The decision was followed by an important announcement in which the PTI chairman  Imran Khan directed the party leadership and activists from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to reach Bani Gala today (Monday).

The strategy has been finalised in a bid to avoid (Khan’s) possible arrest or any other unfair means the government may employ against the party chief, a senior PTI leader, who attended the meeting, confirmed to The Express Tribune.

“Definitely, unlike the PML-N, the PTI’s activists will not attack the apex court. Hundreds of activists will accompany Khan in a bid to show support for him and his stance.”

A five-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali is scheduled to hear the Panama Papers case on November 1 (Tuesday).

The sudden announcement by Khan instructing the party workers to reach Islamabad on Monday (October 31) instead of November 2 created confusion even among party circles, who thought that the November 2 sit-in strategy has been changed and the protest movement is starting today (Monday).

The top leadership failed to clear the mist surrounding the sudden announcement and did not offer any clarification to the media or party activists for this changed strategy.

It was observed that many party activists were contacting journalists to know the motive behind this development.

“I will ask all PTI workers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to reach Bani Gala on Monday,” Khan told a press conference.

For the general public, who supports his stance on corruption, Khan advised to come on November 2, as per the previously announced schedule.

“On November 2, we will leave Bani Gala to gather at the centre of the federal capital,” he said.

K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak has been directed to bring at least a crowd of 25,000 to Islamabad today, a PTI MNA from K-P said.

Through an internal message circulated by the PTI provincial secretariat to the leadership and activists in K-P, they have been advised to reach the Swabi interchange by 10am on Monday. From there, the K-P chief minister would lead the rally of hundreds of activists towards Islamabad.

As per the plan, the rally would reach Bani Gala through capital’s main artery, the Kashmir Highway. The rally would be accompanied by cranes to remove containers and other hurdles from its way.

PTI MNA from Peshawar Engineer Hamid-ul-Haq Khalil confirmed the travelling plan.

Situation in Bani Gala

Meanwhile, the situation in the area surrounding Bani Gala remained tense throughout the day. Police arrested some 150 PTI activists, who tried to enter the area through Korang Road.

Khan started his day with the distribution of breakfast among party activists who were present in the vicinity of his residence. To ensure enough food supply, ‘Insaf Tandoor’ has been established while cooks have been hired to prepare food.



“I have enough space to accommodate thousands of PTI activists who would arrive on Monday,” Khan, who within a span of nine hours addressed the media three times, told reporters.

“It’s been the third consecutive day since Bani Gala is cut off from the rest of the federal capital,” Khan, who is currently under a self-imposed house arrest, complained.

The PTI Chairman informed that he would not appear before the Islamabad High Court today (Monday) and that his counsels would represent him at the court. However, Khan said that he would observe the Supreme Court hearing on the Panamagate issue on Tuesday.

“At this juncture of time, the credibility of the judiciary is at stake,” Khan said.

Besides criticising Nawaz Sharif for his alleged corruption, Khan took the opportunity to ask his old friend and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that “does your conscience allow you to take orders and work for a corrupt person?”

He appealed to the minister to question the prime minister about his ill-gotten wealth.



“Ask him [Nawaz] to clarify his position, like the UK cabinet members asked former British PM David Cameron,” Khan advised the interior minister, adding he [Nisar] and other cabinet members know that Nawaz Sharif was lying to the whole nation about his ill-gotten money and properties abroad.

“Listen to your conscience. Stand by the truth. You will have to answer God on the Day of Judgment -- and not Nawaz Sharif,” Khan told Nisar.

Talking about the government’s arrangement to disrupt the PTI’s planned protest, Khan said, “Democracy under Nawaz Sharif is worse than the dictatorship of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.”

He said a corrupt regime had been utilising the state machinery run through public money to hide the corruption of Sharifs.

He once again accused Sharif of toeing the agenda of the Indian and Israeli establishments against Pakistan Army. Expressing his dissatisfaction over the removal of Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid over a ‘planted’ news leak, the PTI chief said, the nation had been waiting to hear the name of a member of the prime minister’s family who, he claimed, to be the real culprit in the whole issue.

Responding to another question, he said the PTI’s protests would convert into celebrations in case the prime minister resigns.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.