Plan B: Sit-ins if long march stopped says Rasheed

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Muslim League chairman Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad said on Monday that his party and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) would stage sit-ins in all the provinces if the government tried to stop their long march. Addressing a press conference, he said millions of people would take to the streets to record their protest against loadshedding and lawlessness. “Only mid-term elections can save the country and take it out of its crises,” he said. Rasheed said it would be the responsibility of the government to send the army back to the barracks. “I fear that the army will send the rulers packing at the end of the three months,” he said. “PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek head Dr Tahirul Qadri will soon agree on the long march agenda,” he said. “The Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s decision to join the long march will also be important,” he said. He said that time for talks with the government was over. “The party that negotiates with the government now will be digging its own political grave,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2014.