PHOTO: REUTERS
This will be Imran Khan’s first public address after his November 2 thanksgiving speech in Islamabad when he called off the plan to lock down Islamabad.
Earlier, PTI announced plans to hold public rallies as part of its ‘Awami Rabita Mohim’.
The PTI chief would sensitise the general public about the Panama Papers and inform developments on this front in the Supreme Court, party spokesperson Fawad Hussain said.
Recently, Imran Khan said that his party would keep the issue alive by building up public pressure on the government after the Panamagate case was adjourned till January next year.
The rally in Swabi is scheduled to be held at 2pm in which leaders from the party’s stronghold Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital would participate. The next rally would be held in Punjab.
A meeting of the party’s leadership was also held at Imran Khan’s residence in Bani Gala to finalise the strategy in this regard.
It is learnt that the meeting discussed various issues, including the Swabi rally, party workers who switched their loyalty and supported PML-N candidates in the local government elections in Punjab and the judicial report on the Quetta carnage.
The issue of awarding the contract for promotional advertisements to a firm with links to leaders from the party’s media wing was also discussed. It was decided that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s information minister would address a press conference over the issue on Sunday (today). The meeting concluded that baseless stories were being released by the PML-N after failing to find any corruption scandal of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
PTI cleanses its ranks
PTI also purged its ranks by suspending basic memberships of 27 office-bearers, termed ‘turncoats’ by an internal fact-finding report on the last phase of local government elections in Punjab.
It is understood that a number of PTI office-bearers openly voted for PML-N candidates.
Party memberships of 12 office-bearers from Mianwali district, nine from Faisalabad, three each from Attock and Narowal were suspended for supporting other parties in the local government polls. All of them were also served show-cause notices, asking them to explain their position.
“PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has introduced the bad tradition of buying political loyalties of opponents,” Imran Khan was quoted as saying in a statement issued on Saturday by the party’s media department.
Such ‘turncoats’, Imran said, would not be tolerated at any cost and would be ousted from party ranks.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2016.
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