PTI Youth Wing to hold bike rally for Khan's release

President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Youth Wing District Peshawar, Shahzeb Khan, has said that processions and rallies held only in the local areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will not secure the release of Imran Khan. A permanent strategy must be announced and similar gatherings should also be organised in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

He expressed these views at a press conference held at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday. He was accompanied by other Youth Wing leaders, Regional President Asif Khan Bangash, District General Secretary Abrar Ahmed Malik Jan, members from Peshawar's tehsils, and members of Bushra Bibi's family.

Shahzeb Khan announced that the PTI Youth Wing would take out a historic bike rally from Namak Mandi, Peshawar, on August 3 as a show of solidarity with Imran Khan. Thousands of young people are expected to participate.

He said three years have passed since the government unjustly imprisoned Imran Khan, who has written an immortal story of steadfastness, courage and bravery. The provincial government, he claimed, does not even know what illness Khan is suffering from. While officials keep talking about an eye disease, members of Bushra Bibi's family maintain that Khan has developed Parkinson's. Meanwhile, he added, the priorities of those enjoying the fruits of power have changed.

Khan is facing state oppression and injustice and is enduring imprisonment for the better future of Pakistan, Shahzeb said. Yet certain elements within the party do not want his release. He alleged that the provincial government has become so weak that sometimes Maulana Fazlur Rehman comes to its rescue and at other times Governor Faisal Karim Kundi steps into the field to defend it.

The Youth Wing leader requested the party leadership to turn the August 5 rally into a continuous series of processions across the local areas of K-P and to announce a permanent course of action. The people voted for PTI because of its ideology, he stressed, and organisational and administrative matters should be kept separate. On one hand the public must be delivered, and on the other a strong movement for Khan's release must be launched.

He pointed out that drone attacks are taking place in K-P while the provincial government remains completely silent. Imran Khan had protested against the same drones, and 70,000 Pashtuns were martyred in those terrorist attacks. The provincial government has washed away Khan's 27-year-long demand that drone strikes be stopped and the killing of Pashtuns halted. It appears the provincial government has been compromised, he said.

Shahzeb advised the provincial government not to feel irritated by questions on social media about Khan's release. The same youth who reminded the public of the party's colourful symbols and helped elect its leaders to the assemblies are today being pushed against the wall, while MPAs and MNAs have forgotten Khan's release and are busy protecting their assets.