Khan to ‘lead movement to overthrow govt in October’

Says the nation will rise up in Army’s support if the US attacked Pakistan.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf “is ready to lead a movement to overthrow the government and cleanse the country’s politics of corruption,” said PTI chairman Imran Khan on Sunday.

He was addressing a public gathering in Gujranwala. Khan urged people to support his party in the movement that he planned to start in October.

Khan said the PTI would ensure that justice was available to everyone without discrimination on the basis of their status in the society. He said his foremost priority would be to restore the country’s sovereignty.

Khan criticised the government for ‘selling the country’s honour’ by acquiescing to all US demands. Referring to US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen’s accusations, Khan said nothing could be more embarrassing for a sovereign country than another country’s head of military head interfering in its internal matters. He said the US was threatening to attack Pakistan on the pretext of rooting out terrorist networks. This, he said, was the consequence of successive governments’ failure to assert Pakistan’s interest in their relationship with the US.

Khan said if the US attacked Pakistani territory the nation would rise up to defend the country along with the Army.

He said due to Nawaz Sharif’s failure to play an effective role in opposition his party was now struggling to keep its popularity intact.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th,  2011.