Long march in last week of May: Imran

ISLAMABAD:

PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced that his party would hold a long march to Islamabad in the last week of May against an “imported government” that was imposed on the country in cahoots with foreign powers.

Side-by-side, he also wrote letters to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and President Dr Arif Alvi, urging them to investigate the summary of an official meeting held at the Pakistan Embassy with Donald Lu, the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia and another American official.

In a video message, the former premier said that the decision to stage the long march was made in the PTI's core committee meeting. "I am giving this call not just to PTI activists but to the entire country," he added, without mentioning the exact date or the place from where he would start leading the rally towards the capital.

The PTI chief claimed that they were giving this call because the country had been “shamed via a foreign conspiracy” and Pakistan’s “most corrupt people have been imposed upon us”.

He added that 60% of the new cabinet members were on bail.

“The one who has become the prime minister, he is being called a ‘crime minister’. They have [corruption] cases worth Rs40 billion against them in the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) and NAB (National Accountability Bureau).”

 

Imran urged every Pakistani to prepare for bringing “real freedom”, adding that the process of preparation for the march would begin on Chand Raat -- eve of Eidul Fitr.

"I want to address the youth here in particular that you have to come out on Chand Raat with flags and let the world know that Pakistanis are a lively nation.”

The former prime minister claimed that his long march would be the “largest gathering in the history of Pakistan”.

"There will be an ocean of people that will let everyone know that from this point on, no country will ever impose a corrupt gang on this nation."

He said that all decisions about Pakistan would be made by its own people from now onwards.

Also read: Imran urges CJP, President Alvi to investigate 'foreign conspiracy'

Soon after the announcement, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said the long march would pave the way for a truly independent Pakistan by following in the footsteps of the Tehreek-e-Pakistan.

“Pakistanis have to choose between freedom and slavery,” Fawad said, urging Pakistanis to start preparing for joining the “great caravan” beginning on the eve of Eid.

Imran, a cricket star-turned-politician, claimed that the US was behind his ouster from power, an assertion that Washington denies.

In his letters to the CJP and president, Imran claimed that the summary contained proof that the vote of no confidence -- which saw him ousted on April 9 -- was part of a “foreign-funded conspiracy”.

The former premier’s “plea” to CJP Bandial read: “Given the grave nature of this threat to democracy in Pakistan through an externally engineered regime-change conspiracy, should the SC (Supreme Court) not have examined the content of the cipher before demanding [that] the vote of no confidence be held immediately?”

Similarly in his letter to the president, Imran stated: “As head of the state of Pakistan and commander in chief of the armed forces, it is incumbent upon you to take action and order a public inquiry into this threat.”

Also read: Reham paid to write book against me in 2018: Imran

Pleading both parties to take “immediate action”, the deposed premier claimed that in the proceedings of the last cabinet meeting, his government had concluded that the cipher “clearly reflected a regime-change conspiracy”, adding that the “shifting allegiances” of the allied parties and the “purchase of loyalties of PTI members” was suspected.

The PTI chairman requested that the apex court should launch a commission to conduct “open hearings in order to establish who all in Pakistan were involved in the regime change”.

He added that the Supreme Court had set it as a precedent in the Memogate case.

The former PM also informed Alvi that the Presidency’s “silence” on the matter inculcated a sense of “betrayal and helplessness among the people of Pakistan”.

He said the two parties’ failure to investigate or condemn the “conspiracy” was bringing the people out to protest “what they see as a betrayal of their democratic right to vote”.

Imran called upon the SC and President Alvi to “live up” to the trust placed upon them to “protect the people of Pakistan from such foreign conspiracies”.