PTI to delay Oct 15 protest if meeting with Imran Khan granted: report

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reportedlly decided to postpone its protest scheduled for October 15, subject to a meeting with former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

During a meeting of the PTI core committee chaired by Barrister Salman Akram Raja, it was decided that if a meeting with Imran Khan was arranged by October 14, the protest will be postponed, Express News cited sources.

If a meeting with doctors, lawyers, or any party leader was facilitated, the protest would be postponed.

The sources went on to say that if the meeting was not arranged, a strong protest would take place on October 15.

During the meeting, some party members suggested postponing the protest due to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, while others, including Shahbaz Gill and Khalid Khurshid, opposed this idea.

The party leadership and senior leaders also supported the proposal to postpone the protest.

Members stated that the ban on meetings with Imran Khan, the founder of the PTI, is a 'calculated conspiracy' by the government.

The federal government vowed on Saturday to deploy its "full force" to prevent the PTI from staging a protest coinciding with the high-profile Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on October 15.

Previously, preparations were underway to welcome around 900 delegates, with the ruling coalition mobilizing over 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel to ensure security.

Ministers from the coalition have aggressively criticized the PTI, accusing it of attempting to disrupt the summit and even urging the courts to intervene.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the PTI's protest plans at D-Chowk as "political terrorism," asserting that the party was endangering the country’s economic recovery.

He reminded that PTI protests in 2014 had delayed the Chinese president's visit to Pakistan.

He warned that the country could not afford to engage in destructive politics. "Just because PTI's leader is jailed, doesn't justify chaos," he said.

He further highlighted that hosting the SCO summit on October 15-16 was a proud diplomatic achievement for Pakistan.

Earlier, PM Shahbaz Sharif condemned the PTI for fostering chaos as the opposition party declared its intent to hold a "forceful" protest on the first day of the SCO summit.