August 14 deadline: Imran lays out conditions for calling off long march

Urges Supreme Court to open probe into election rigging in four constituencies.

KARACHI:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Thursday said that he was willing to call off the August 14 long march on Islamabad if the Supreme Court opens a probe into election rigging in four constituencies.

“If a three-member judicial commission under the Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk investigates the electoral fraud and places the result before the nation in two weeks, we will call off the long march,” the PTI chief said.

He was speaking at the Kal Tak programme of the Express News hosted by Javed Chaudhry.

“No, we cannot give the government any more time,” he said pointing out that PTI has been fighting in tribunals for the past 14 months and giving more time will mean that one should get ready for the next elections.

Imran reiterated that the August 14 long march will be a giant leap towards real democracy that will herald a new Pakistan.

He said that the people were just as charged as they were in May 2013. “I felt the pulse of the crowd in Bahawalpur, we are starting from where we left out in 2013.”

He did not rule out demand for a mid-term election.

To a question about the status of Nawaz Sharif and his government post-August 14, Imran said, “I am not going to show all of my cards right now.”

On politics of confrontation, the former cricketer said that PTI went to election tribunals but no avail, “we wasted 14 months.”

The system has to be changed, he said.

He asserted that if the judicial commission finds allegations of rigging untrue and declares no electoral fraud has taken place, “I will go and congratulate Mian Nawaz Sharif on his victory.”

However, Imran said he believes that on May 11, 2013, the nation saw biggest electoral fraud in the history of Pakistan. Unless there is accountability, the practice of poll rigging will continue. “A few people have formed dynasties in Pakistan, their children are being groomed to rule us, this is not democracy, it is monarchy,” he said. Corruption cannot be eliminated without accountability, he asserted.

Regarding the operation in North Waziristan Imran said that he believed in democracy and would never have supported an armed offensive. “As a student of history and international relations, I assure that every conflict ends in dialogue,” he said. The Moro conflict of Muslims in the Philippines, he said, continued for over 40 years, only to end in talks that started a few months ago.

On the perception that PTI is resorting to confrontation because it cannot control the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, Imran said this was incorrect. He dilated upon the police reforms, improvements in education and health sectors the K-P government has achieved.

“There is no likelihood of K-P government being dissolved,” Imran said replying to a question by the host. The fact is, Imran said, the PTI unlike the N league, has not pumped Rs60 million of taxpayer money in self-aggrandising media campaigns.


Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2014.