Imran says called off dharna plan to avoid bloodshed

PM Nawaz must step down during Panamagate probe, says PTI chief

ISLAMABAD: Pinning all his hopes on the Supreme Court, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has renewed his demand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down as a case is currently pending before the apex court against his alleged corruption.

“You [Nawaz Sharif] should resign, as you are under trial before the Supreme Court on corruption charges,” Imran asked the premier on Wednesday while addressing a big ‘Thanksgiving’ rally.



The rally was announced on Tuesday after Imran called off his scheduled Nov 2 lockdown of Islamabad in the wake of the apex court’s decision to form a judicial commission to investigate the Panamagate scandal.

The Panama Papers on April 3 revealed that the PM’s family members owned offshore companies in international tax havens.

“In the past, a couple of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers have been forced to resign.

So why not him [Nawaz] also?” Imran said while referring to resignations tendered by former ministers Mushahidullah Khan and Pervaiz Rashid for their anti-establishment stances.

“We will wait and see until end of this month [November], as the Supreme Court has hinted it will announce its verdict in the case at the earliest,” he said. “I can see you will be clean-bowled soon,” he added with reference to pending SC proceedings.

“From tomorrow onwards, your accountability will begin. It’s the first time that a prime minister will appear before the SC on corruption charges. I hope this dark night will end soon,” he said, adding that he had impatiently been waiting to see the Sharif brothers in jail.

Imran strongly criticised the government for blocking motorways and highways, arresting workers, using teargas on protesters, and carrying out raids on houses of political workers in a bid to forcibly stop them to come to Islamabad for the planned lockdown, which aimed to seek the PM’s accountability.



“Government tried to make the provinces and people fight with each other and with the federation. It does not happen in free societies and real democracies,” he observed.

He said General Dyer was held accountable by the British parliament in 1919 for the Amritsar massacre.

“He was held accountable for killing people of a slave nation. Such brutal tactics were even not exercised by military dictators,” he said, adding. “The Sharif brothers are the real enemies of Pakistan. They have corrupted the whole society.”

Imran also criticised heads of other opposition parties, saying they were afraid that once the process of accountability kicked off they would also be caught for their wrongdoings.

“The concept of real opposition has vanished from Pakistan. Under the name of Charter of Democracy, the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) signed a charter of mukmuka [complicity],” he said, adding that government and the PPP had deliberately destroyed the institutions to hide their corruption.

Explaining why he withdrew his call for the capital’s lockdown, the PTI chief said he had asked party activists coming from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to return as he feared bloodshed due to the continuing standoff between PTI activists and police.

“I sensed that if the situation persisted, the blood of PTI activists might be spilled. And in retaliation they [the PTI] would do the same,” he said, while explaining his call which had been dubbed by many as an anti-climax of his accountability movement and a ‘U-Turn’.



Earlier, addressing the participants Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said he was depressed due to Imran Khan’s sudden decision to call off the planned protest but now he was hopeful that the SC would help steer the country out of the prevailing political crisis.

“I know him [Nawaz]. He has a history of buying loyalties of judges,” Rashid said, adding that earlier he was not in favour of taking up the matter to the court. “But after listening to the observations of the judges during the first hearing into the case I am confident now,” he added.

The rally’s venue – Parade Ground – is being used by the military to show its might by putting on display its war assets on March 23 every year. It was the first time that a political party – widely accused by its political opponents of having support of the establishment – showed its strength on this ground.

Due to the influx of hundreds of vehicles carrying PTI supporters, the adjoining roads and busy intersections witnessed a huge traffic jam like situation. Apparently to dispel impression of any divisions over Imran Khan’s sudden decision of calling off protest, senior leadership from all four provinces addressed the rally.

K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak was showered with praise by almost all party leaders and Imran Khan for giving a tough time to the law enforcers on October 31 as his convoy was trying to enter Punjab on the party chief’s call.

Senior PTI leaders – Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Khan Tareen, Chaudhry Sarwar, Ijaz Chaudhry, Yar Mohammad Rind, Mehmoodur Rashid, Asad Umar – and others also addressed the rally.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2016.