Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday directed PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry to set up four camps in each national constituency and one in each provincial constituency to register participants for his party’s Azadi March.
In a letter written to Chaudhry, Khan said arrangements for the long march should be made at these camps.
The provincial president was directed to constitute a monitoring team to oversee the preparations and the camps and keep a record of performance of office-bearers and ticket hopefuls.
“A sound system should be installed at these camps to play patriotic songs to motivate people to join the rally,” Khan wrote. “Small public gatherings should be held to encourage people to join the march.” The PTI chief said 100,000 young motorcycle riders should take out rallies to spread the party’s call for the march.
He said the party should reach out to the Insaf Youth Wing and the Insaf Students Federation in this regard.
Khan directed Chaudhry to finalise transport arrangements to avoid delay on the day of the long march.
Chaudhry was further directed to ask party workers from far flung areas to join the main caravan led by Khan from Lahore.
The party chairman asked party workers to remain vigilant and overcome any hurdles created by the provincial government.
Separately, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rashid said party workers should ignore false information being spread by the ruling party and should prepare for the march.
Talking to reporters after a meeting to review preparations for the long march, Rashid said Khan did not believe in backdoor diplomacy.
He said the civil bureaucracy was helping the government block a peaceful protest march. “We gave the government one year to address our concerns relating to election rigging but our demands were ignored,” he said.
He said threats of imprisonment and police brutality would not dampen PTI’s spirit. He said the government had used the judiciary and set aside PTI’s claims of rigging.
He said people of the country did not support the “false mandate” of the ruling party and its claim to power.
He said a party meeting had decided that the independence march would start after a visit to the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal, where party workers would pray for a real democracy.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2014.
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