Imran hits campaign trail with big show in Lahore

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan led his party’s election rally in the Punjab capital on Monday, the first polls-related activity in more than four months.

With a major power show, Imran formally kicked off the PTI’s canvassing campaign in Punjab where elections for the provincial assembly will be held on April 30. He announced that the party would hold its next power show at Miner-e-Pakistan on Sunday.

Earlier, the PTI chairman had announced to lead the rally on March 12, but the rally was rescheduled for Monday after the local authorities imposed a ban on public gatherings in the city under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The rally began from Imran’s Zaman Park residence and passed through Iqbal road, Dharampura, Garhi Shahu, Railway Station, Delhi Gate, Shah Alam and Lohari Gate. It concluded at Data Darbar, where Imran addressed his supporters.

Speaking from his bulletproof car, the PTI chief slammed the government for stopping the rally. “On March 8, they stopped our rally and then again on March 12 they refused to give permission for the rally,” he said.

Imran said that he was fighting this “war” for the nation, warning that the country was at the verge of collapse. “We need collective effort to save the country and I invite all the country men to join this fight to achieve ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ (real freedom),” he said.

“We faced lots of hurdles in the way of taking out the rally, because the imported government is using foul tactics to prevent us from taking part in the elections and subsequently, push us out of the election race,” he said.

“It [the government] is registering fake cases against me and my fellow PTI leaders. Every day, a new case is being registered against me. Over 80 cases have been registered against me, so far,” he added.

Referring to the release of the list of gifts received by the country’s top leaders during the last two decades, Imran said that the ‘Toshakhana’ [state repository of the gifts] list brought truth to the fore, and exposed those who had looted the national resources.

“Truth will also come in the foreign funding case and it will surprise everyone. The foreign funding of the PML-N [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz] and the PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] will also be exposed,” he added.

While expressing gratitude to the supporters for giving overwhelming response to his rally, Imran said that the turnout revealed the reason why the government was reluctant to allow the rally because they knew that the people would come out in huge numbers.

Referring to violence on last Wednesday, Imran said: “I want to tell the people that we will neither forget nor forgive the murder of our party worker Zil-e-Shah and the police brutality. Those who committed atrocities will face justice,” he assured.

Announcing the PTI next power show on Sunday, March 19, Imran invited the people to attend the gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan. He added the rally would be in daylight so that everyone could see how many people were supporting his struggle for ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’.

Meanwhile, the city administration placed barricades around Zaman Park and on the route of the rally amid imposition of Section 144. Containers were placed on roads in several areas, as pre-emptive measures by the police, which disrupted the flow of traffic.