Firm stance: PM House march wasn’t my idea, says Rasheed

AML leader insist, the decision was 100% right

ISLAMABAD:

Throwing his weight behind the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Tuesday said that the decision to stage a sit-in outside the Prime Minister house was justified.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the AML leader accused the government of dragging state institutions including the military and the judiciary into the political vortex.

Rasheed cautioned that there is no threat to parliament, but Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif were vulnerable due to poor governance and rampant corruption in the country.

Defending PAT and PTI workers, he blamed ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) for choreographing the attack on the PTV building. The AML chief said that Nawaz Sharif is not only a threat to democracy but also to free media, particularly the electronic media in Pakistan.

Dismissing allegation levelled by dissident PTI leader Javed Hashmi, he said “I did not advise Imran Khan to march towards the Prime Minister House and neither did I convey any message to the PTI chief.”

“But I can say that the decision to march towards the PM House was hundred per cent correct,” he said.

Prophesising in his typical style, Rasheed said that the government would have assassinated Imran and Qadri at D-Chowk had they not decided to move towards the prime minister house.

Scoffing at the government’s silence over the issue of rigging, he said most political parties claim that last year’s elections were fraudulent and rigged to favour the ruling party.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2014.