PTI still on track for Lahore shut down: Ejaz Chaudhry

Says talks and protest will go on side by side

LAHORE: On a day when Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resumed stalled talks, PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry said they will be going ahead with their lockdown protest in Lahore next week. 

Calling Faisalabad shut down a game changer, Chaudhry said, “The call for shut down in Faisalabad proved to be a game changer but on December 15, when Lahore will be shut down, the game will be over.”

The decision to go ahead with the shutdown call was announced after a meeting between PTI Punjab and Central Region in Lahore on Thursday.

“We will not take back our calls for protest. Talks and protest will go on side by side,” Chaudhry said.

The PTI Punjab president said the party will urge residents of Lahore to support their protest.

Rejecting the criticism against PTI that its shutter down protests cause more harm than good, Chaudhry said PTI is struggling to restore the sanctity of the votes. “We want to bring the country out of chaos, but we will continue our struggle until our mission is accomplished.”

Chaudhry demanded that murderers of PTI worker Haq Nawaz should be brought to book. Nawaz had been killed during clashes in Faisalabad on December 8. “Killers of Nawaz have been traced and their videos have been spread widely and these evidences have also been provided to the police.”

He expressed concerns over reports that the government is forcing the family of Nawaz to drop charges.

During Thursday's the meeting, the party also discussed making the Insaf Students Federation, as well as student supporters, more active through holding sit-ins and small protests.