Imran backs down from dharna threat

Says PTI will observe thanksgiving day instead

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s threat to lock down the federal capital fizzled out on Tuesday as he made a volte-face and called off his Nov 2 dharna plans in a move analysts says is likely to ease tension that has spilled over into violence in the run-up to the scheduled protest.

Instead of the dharna, the PTI chairman said his party would observe Youm-e-Tashakur (thanksgiving day), following the Supreme Court decision to pursue the Panamagate case that involves Premier Nawaz Sharif.



Khan has been calling for an independent inquiry into revelations in the Panama Papers that three scions of the Sharif family were among hundreds of powerful Pakistanis who had secreted their money in offshore tax havens.

“This is a landmark decision, full marks to the Supreme Court,” a visibly beaming Khan told scores of his supporters who have been camping at his residence in Bani Gala, on the edge of Islamabad, for the past few days.

Khan and his top aides, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen and Asad Umar, had been under virtual siege since police and Frontier Constabulary had blocked all entry and exit points to Bani Gala earlier this week. There have been sporadic clashes between law enforcers and Khan’s supporters who tried to break the siege and reach Bani Gala.

“Now, we will observe a thanksgiving day at the Parade Ground tomorrow,” he said while calling the Supreme Court decision a ‘victory’.  Khan believes that there was no reason for the Nov 2 dharna which he was staging to press the government for an inquiry into Panamagate.

The PTI chairman fired a fresh salvo at the government, calling Premier Sharif corrupt. “They [PML-N] say the Panamagate trial should also include others. They say Imran Khan is corrupt. They say Jahangir Tareen is corrupt. They say Aleem Khan is corrupt. They say Khursheed Shah is corrupt, which, by the way he is. But they never say our prime minister is the one who is corrupt to the core and he should be put on trial first,” said Khan.

After the Supreme Court decision, authorities said they would clear all roadblocks and barriers erected on major highways to allow the PTI stage a rally at Parade Ground.



“I ask all PTI activists to reach Islamabad tomorrow (Wednesday) to be at Parade Ground. We’ll celebrate. More than one million people will gather at Parade Ground,” he said and added in a lighter vein that the “sea of people might break banks and overflow on to other parts of Islamabad.”

PTI sources admit the volte-face on dharna didn’t go down well with party activists, especially from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The party, however, didn’t have many options as the government had virtually sabotaged PTI’s plans by cracking down on party workers and stopping them from converging in Islamabad.



“For us, it’s like a safe passage, though our workers are disillusioned. They have every right to be unhappy because they gave sacrifices. They faced police action – baton charge and teargas shelling. They spent cold nights out in the open while the top leadership slept in their cozy bedrooms,” a senior PTI member told The Express Tribune, on the condition of anonymity.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, K-P CM’s Political Coordinator Zar Gul Khan, however, denied the PTI was faced with a shortage of protesters. He called Tuesday’s decision of the apex court ‘a huge victory.’

“A sea of protesters was bearing down on the capital Tuesday afternoon under the leadership of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak when Khan called off the dharna plan. Our workers were too charged to back off at Burhan Interchange and we had to struggle hard to convince them,” he added.

PTI sources said Khattak has directed all four regional presidents of the party – Zar Gul Khan (Hazara region), Shah Farman (Peshawar region), Ali Amin Gandapur (DI Khan region) and Mehmood Khan (Malakand region) – to ensure maximum participation of members in Youm-e-Tashakur.

PM House abuzz with activity

The PM House witnessed back-to-back marathon meetings on Wednesday ahead of the Supreme Court ruling. Sources said the PML-N leadership heaved a sigh of relief when Khan called off the scheduled dharna, and after consultations, Premier Sharif approved permission for PTI’s event at Parade Ground. Roadblocks were subsequently removed from different parts of twin cities and routes connecting K-P with Punjab.

PML-N sources said the party had decided to not form a commission to probe the Panamagate scandal on PTI’s demand. “But since the decision has come from the SC, we happily accepted it,” said a legal wizard of Sharif.

The cabinet is scheduled to meet today where it is expected to approve a bill that will bind companies and their directors to disclose their foreign investments.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2016.