Having staged protests in Islamabad, party’s chief, Imran Khan, will lead protests in central Punjab before moving to Karachi. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS/FILE
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has formed a new strategy against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that is analogous to its ‘tsunami’ slogan – mobilising the party’s members, followers and supporters in the form of mass protests.
The public gathering on May 25, Sunday, is aimed at amassing the people of Punjab as “they are fed up with load-shedding, the rigged election, unemployment, etc.,” PTI Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari told The Express Tribune.
On that day, PTI will organise a massive protest rally that will gather at Dungi Ground, Faisalabad where Imran Khan will deliver his address. In June, the party will hold another public gathering in Gujranwala and then after Ramazan, in Lahore.
PTI’s senior leader Shafqat Mehmood said that the Faisalabad rally has two objectives: to sensitise people of the city about rigging and mobilise them for electoral reform. He said the party leadership will present its agenda at Faisalabad on Sunday.
After leading protests in central Punjab, the party’s chief, Imran Khan, would move to Karachi, informed Mazari. But why is PTI focused on central Punjab? “People of that area believe that their mandate was stolen by PML-N,” she replied.
The party’s protests in Islamabad on May 11 created tensions in Raiwind, she claimed. The Imran-led protests in central Punjab will force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to come out and implement electoral reforms.
There are loopholes in the current election rules and regulations. “Protesting is the only way to force PML-N to introduce electoral reforms and revamp the Election Commission of Pakistan,” she said.
The importance of Punjab
The think tank advising the party has recommended that Khan focus on central Punjab vis-a-vis the mass movement in order to see PML-N’s grip loosen in the province and Islamabad, and to revive PTI’s popularity in central Punjab.
The technocrats in the think tank that advises PTI argue that if Imran succeeds to move central Punjab in its favour, then there would be no hurdle in coming into power in Islamabad. If he fails to win over central Punjab, then the party can never hold the reins of power in the centre.
The plan
“PTI has planned its mass movement in Punjab in different phases,” said one of PTI’s senior leaders who is also member of the think tank that devised the strategy of mass movement.
PTI will focus on central Punjab until Eidul Fitr, after which it will stage a large-scale protest in Lahore. After Eidul Azha, the party will start a mass movement in South Punjab.
During the end of October or mid-December, the party will stage a rally in Karachi to attract its voters in the metropolis where it could only grab one National Assembly seat in the May 11, 2013 general election.
The parliament route
Another strategy employed by the PTI is to take almost all political parties in the lower house on board to join its two-point agenda i.e. revamp ECP and electoral reforms.
The party’s senior officials said they have proposed two names, MNAs Dr Arif Alvi and Shafqat Mehmood, as their representatives in the Parliamentary Committee, which the government would constitute to reform electoral laws and the ECP.
Separately, PTI officials said its three-member team – comprising bigwigs Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Tareen and Javed Hashmi – is working with different political parties to build consensus in parliament.
Pakistan’s Muslim League-Quaid leader Raja Basharat told The Express Tribune that PTI has sought their cooperation at the parliament on the abovementioned issues.
He said that PML-Q has proposed its Senator Kamil Ali Agha and MNA Tariq Bashir Cheema for the government’s Parliamentary Committee to push the two-point agenda as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2014.
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@Jahangir Chauhan: oh so for just uttering a word on the suffering of people of Karachi who voted for PTI he needs to be the chief minister of sinned province ?? wow
@Jahangir Chauhan: Thanks friend. So, a lot is being done for power and energy. Good work. Kindly tell me also about other fields like administration, education and health etc. I am from India and will be interested to know.
Imran Khan is showing himself to be more immature by the day. He should focus on being a responsible member of the opposition working to keep checks on the elected government instead of someone out to cause trouble and destabilize the country so another dictator can take over. We all saw how 9 years of Musharraf dictatorship just damaged Pakistan making it look like another basket case Muslim country ruled by a General or King. Give democracy a chance and Pakistan will not just be another Muslim Banana Republic.
Imran is the most arrogant and Liar politician. He never speaks truth. He always tells a lie. No trust on him. He has taken so many U Turns. He has no gets to become PM of Pakistan.
@imran through transplant. Which btw is due for his grey matter also.
@VINOD: Why not send an e mail or a tweet to Imran Khan, he has a plenty of free time which he can use outside the parliament on high strrets. But do not ask him personal questions or remind him of when he escaped being arrested by Mr parvez military, through the window of his Islamabad villa.
Rex Minor
@sikandar: the ministers also confirm the same. One of them was Shahram Tarakai who is part of AJIP and not PTI
Has PTI done anything good in KPK? They are just making noise and wasting time in protesting. Imran has no potential for governing a province.
Maybe there should be mass protests in KPK to complain how everything wasn't fixed in under a year too! Load shedding, unemployment and problems are not going on there? Give us a break and learn to respect the voters mandate. A few seats here and there does not warrant this public nuisance. Imran Khan needs to grow up and work within the system.
I have seen nothing positive in the personality of Imran. He is full of thirst of power. Nothing else. He accuses, abuses and blames others only to get power. He can never become PM.
It is a blessing of Allah that Master of U Turn Imran is not Prime Minister of Pakistan. No trust and hope from PTI. They are losers. They should accept the defeat.
PTI has drowned in its own Tsunami. This Tsunami has become Badnami for PTI. Imran is continuing fooling the nation. Shame for Imran.
It is only dirty politics of PTI that is not allowing Stock Exchange to flourish. PTI's politics will badly damage Pakistan's economy. PTI nooras will understand it.
Rona Dhona politics of PTI. Biggest shame for PTI.
@Arslan: Now that's the typical biased mindset against Karachi. When it comes to tax collection Karachi ranks first and pays more than half of all taxes and utility service charges, when it comes to take advantage of Karachi's resources it's called Mini Pakistan, when sindhi waderas want to loot Karachi they call it "atoot ang" of Sindh. But when it comes to spending on Karachi everyone compares Karachi with Gujranwala and Larkana
@VINOD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (BOIT) has planned to execute an overambitious development plan of building a 22-kilometer long rapid bus and ambulance-specific road in Peshawar in around one year.
A BOIT news release issued on Wednesday claimed that the proposed road would become operational in the first quarter of 2015, fulfilling the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vision.
@Shahriyar: He and his party is not in power in Sind. So you should do complain to your ineffective CM who is doing nothing but occupying a seat for long now.
@VINOD: The provincial government has planned to start work on four gigantic energy projects of 457 Megawatt capacity with an objective to overcome shortfall of energy besides providing an inexpensive electricity to consumers, industries and agriculture sectors.
These mega projects included Sharmai power project with a capacity of 150 Megawatt, Shasgai (144 MW), Shagosan (132MW) and Koto (31MW)on which work would start next year after approval by the Federal Govt, official sources in energy department in Civil Secretariat told APP on Thursday.
Pakhtunkhwa Hydel Development Organization (PHYDO) is constructing two new projects at Machai and Nawalia, having a total capacity of 20 MW and hopefully it will start production in upcoming fiscal year, he said.
To attract private investment, Energy and Power Department through PHYDO has also conducted prefeasibility study of 10 raw sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Moreover, action plan 2011-21 under PHYDO has started work on six hydel projects with a capacity of 238 MW.
The completion of these projects would help address problems of load shedding and will give boost to agriculture and industrial sectors.In addition to this, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has signed two Memorandum of Unders*tanding (MOU) for development of lower Palas valley Hydropower (665 MW) and Spat Gah hydropower project 496 MW) at Kohistan under public private partnership with a total cost of US$ 3 billion.
This will soon be followed by the computerization of all land records in each and every district of KPK. By early next year, the land of 8 districts shall be computerized Inshallah
Party is on a mission to fix million holes in this tattered boat
@MUHAMMAD HARIS BURKI: your kind of people were saying the ame about D chowk isb.
This is getting a little out of hand. IK should stop the dramatics and do some real work. All he does is talk and talk.
IK is behaving just a bad student who fails in examination and complains to father that all examiner and teachers have personal grudge with me that,s why they all planed to fail me otherwise you know I am very intelligent student !
May I request all on this board to educate me as to what developmental, administrative changes, steps against corruption, promotion of education or health etc has been taken in the province governed by the party of Mr. Imran Khan. In fact I will be grateful. Regards
Imran Khan and his endless nonesense whining. why dont you resign from the government? if election wasnt fair than you shouldnt be part of the corrupt system.
@Raza rashid: great analysis, keep it up.
Most of you were probably kids when public demonstrations took place against massive rigging by PPP in the 1977 elections. For three months, the government was paralyzed, people were so outraged. If PML-N has done massive rigging in last year's elections, why aren't the people of Punjab out on the streets? Imran Khan, who should be renamed Chameleon Khan (or "Girgit" Khan) knows that he has no support in Punjab (as the recent bye-election proved). If elections were held today, his party would be defeated massively. He knows his party has failed in KP, that's why he's indulging in these antics to divert the attention of the people.
@Raza rashid: You hit the nail on the head. I couldn't not have put it any better. Agree with everything you said. Well done!
lets not waste time and resources making people run here and there when you donot want to change GoP now. what for you are waiting?
Fiasalabad meeting will prove water loo of PTI.Each passing day PTI is loosing popularity. It cannot be salvaged. People are utterly frustrated.
Mr. My Name is Khan does his every welfare project like cancer hospitals and universities and colleges in Punjab and KPK and wants Karachi people's votes and sacrifices while he never says a single word at their sufferings at the hand of wadera corruption party waderas' corruption and vandalism.
Lately IK "informed" us that Punjab Police has demanded bribe from CM KPK while traveling from Lahore to Islamabad. Ch..ch... grow up man.
Pti is the only solution...
@Wali: I got all your answers. The problem is that you like to play the blame game and move away from actual facts. KPK is in the way to become a model province. And IK doesnot handle KPK. CM KPK does. 90 days reforms were promised but your memory does not support you because IK was injured and was hospitalized for 2-3 months. No one can fight against God's will. No one joined hands with status quo parties. but if some party supports election overhaul then one point agenda can be agreed with these parties. That doesnot mean both parties have become best friends. You will always be haters. That is the best you can do. Wait and watch the development of KPK.
I still remember Shehbaz shareef said "I will finish load shedding in 6 months, else you can change my name" What name should I give him?
The people advising IK of focusing on KP are the same people accuse him of interfering in KP and running a government from Bani Gala. No matter what he does, they will never be happy
I want to know how he's retaining his hair?
Here is the so called saviour of Pakistan, not focusing on building his party's experience in governance through the opportunity given to him by the people of Pakistan in KPK, but wasting his time and energies on meaningless matters at this point in time.
Timorlane
Ever heard of the cities or visted Multan, Bakhar, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sheikupura
Take out Lahore and Raiwind. where you spend billions to cash votes, Punjab in much alike.
What has PMLN done to revive the Faisalabad Textile Industry???
Metro Bus may be right???
How about a strategy to make KPK a model province and that shows the rest of the country what PTI can deliver... Instead PTI wants to focus on cheap strategy of rallies in punjab - i doubt there will be one in karachi any time soon - forget about failures; - 90-days to deliver in KPK - Not to join hands with status quo parties - His long held view on negotiation with taliban And so on..
Lately I have come to realise that these serial PTI badgers are just as naive and uniformed as they label the PTI supporters to be. "IK should focus on KPK government and forget the centre" The childishness of this constantly repeated rehtoric beggars belief. 1. Imran khan is not part if the KPK government! KPK has it's own CM, it's own cabinet and it's own parliament. It's THEIR job to focus on KPK, ik merely creates party policy for them to follow and overlooks progress. 2. PTI is a national party. It cAnnot refine itself to one province. IK is a national leader and is focusing on national issues, electoral reforms being one of them. 3. "If you tell a lie and tell it often enough people will believe it" that's exactly what is happening with this "ik has failed in KPK" statement. It is being repeated so often by these PTI bashers that it seems like the truth. 23 new legislations, including revolutionary ones like right to services and right to information. Complete depoliticisation of the police (look this up), patwari corruption finished, English medium education on primary schools, Sehet ka insaf, tamer-e-school, removal of VIP culture I.e no grand protocols. These are just some of the things kp has achieved in the past 10 months and it's more than Punjab has done in the past 6 YEARS. So please hold your horses, IK and PTI are indeed the change they promised to be.
@Faysal, @Sceptic,
Its their wright to protest for the convenient "Typo Errors" made in the last election all trough Pakistan specially in Punjab, where PTI mandate was stolen.
For KPK PM is side lining all the provinces and punishing them for not voting for PMLN, Muk Muka in Sindh with PPP where the PM keeps the eyes shut and let Karachi and people of Karachi bleed, daily count of 10-18 murders, but hey no worries lets bash Imran Khan for KPK and lets talk Billion Dollar trains for Lahoris. 1 Kharab 27 arab rupees will be spent on 27.1 km train track in Lahore. Does anyone really think this is what we really need.
What about Faisalabad Textile Industry (Greatest contributor in Punjab GDP), if you spend this amount their wouldnt it be better for the country.
Floop youth loan business schemes, Nepotisum at its peak!!
Not to mention the Load Sheeding and Energy crisis in Pakistan, for which PM was so sure to sweep away within month after in power.
Not to mention here the Gold laying hen, Balochistan. If they keep ignoring Balochistan, one day we will require visa to go to their.
For now PMLN is just concentrating on projects which can when you elections instead of addressing real life issue
PPP-PMLN-Marshal Law
PPP-PMLN-Marshal Law
PTI is the only solution!!!!!!!
@Sceptic: Actually in Pakistan only cheating and lying wins you elections.
@the Skunk: Well has the "tsunami" ever uttered a single word against the corruption party waderas loot and plunder of Karachi ? No never
@fawad: and tsunami has not bothered any trace of development its has done in KPK nor it has ever raised its voice for the people of Karachi
Does this guy have any other job than organizing and doing dharna. ?.............
What a power hungry party PTI is..its barely been a year since last election and they cant wait to get into power..wont it be better if they focus on performance and beat PMLN.in performance? but no, PTI is dharna party, it has nothing to do with administration..
Performance, not protest, wins you elections. PTI should concentrate on KP to develop it as a model province and then sell their record to win 2018 elections. PTI will only lose its support and credibility by protesting in central Punjab. IK is becoming desoarate for power.
This is not a bad idea, PTI. The electoral reforms are long OVERDUE and a metamorphosis of the Election Commission is dearly required. Look at the mess made by PPP in Karachi Shareef and supported by PMLN. Salams
It seems pti is the only party which is active in Pakistan. PMLn on the other hand, specially the Prime minister does not even bother to share his ideas with the public or even with the national assembly.