Upcoming elections: PTI threatens massive protest if interim govt is not neutral

Defends his party’s decision of not joining Tahirul Qadri’s long march.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan justified on Saturday his party’s decision to not join Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march, saying that his demand for the dissolution of assemblies was unconstitutional.

He, however, warned the government that the PTI would register a “massive protest”, if an impartial caretaker set-up was not put in place before the upcoming elections.

“The PTI will hold the biggest-ever protest, which will trump all other protests people have seen in the past, if the upcoming elections are not free and fair,” Imran told a news conference.

Imran said PTI’s “participation [in the long march] could have damaged the election process,” and that they “did not want to give ‘political martyrdom’ to the [same] government after bearing it for five long years.”

He said it was a tough call to not join Dr Qadri’s long march, “but we are of the opinion that only elections can bring change in the country.”

Imran said the PTI had been pointing out the same faults in the system as Dr Qadri had, for the past five years.

Though Dr Qadri withdrew his demand which sought the resignation of the rulers, Imran reiterated PTI’s longstanding demand regarding the resignation of President Asif Ali Zardari for holding free and fair elections.

“Free and fair elections are not possible in President Zardari’s presence,” he said. The PTI chief had included this demand in the party’s seven-point charter he announced on January 15.

Imran also criticised the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) saying that “it was Nawaz Sharif again who came to the rescue of President Zardari.”

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, after a meeting of opposition parties in Lahore, had rejected the demand seeking President Zardari’s resignation, saying the move could provide the PPP a motive to re-install its candidates for another five years.

Responding to a question, the PTI chief said there was “no question” of boycotting the elections, because “the upcoming elections are the most important in Pakistan’s electoral history.”

Caretaker set-up

Imran did not rule out the possibility of forming an electoral alliance with Dr Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT), which has been recognised as a stakeholder in the consultation process of a caretaker prime minister in the Islamabad long march declaration.

“We will decide the matter once the [date of the] elections is announced”, he added.

RPP case

On the mysterious death of Kamran Faisal, the NAB official probing the Rental Power Projects (RPPs) case, Imran called upon Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the matter and get it investigated under the supervision of the apex court.

He said Kamran was killed to send a strong message to other officials investigating such sensitive cases where high-ups were involved, adding that since the case involves Prime Minister Ashraf, a fair trial is not possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2013.