Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has urged party workers to go door to door and ‘preach’ people about the party’s upcoming long march.
“Go door to door and do tableegh… don’t do politics. Make people realise the meaning of La Ilaha Illallah,” he said while addressing PTI’s executive council meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday. Imran Khan directed the party workers to remain prepared for the long march to Islamabad as he will give the call to come to the capital ‘soon’. Talking about his last attempt at long march, he said that those who threw tear gas shells and used violence against protesters were involved in oppression.
“Nobody does such a thing to its own people… it should not be done even to your opponents. We see such actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian regime,” he said and urged the people to break the shackles of fear and join the movement. The PTI chief said that it is the right of people to protest peacefully in a democracy. However, he added, that right is being snatched by the present government.
“One of our workers was thrown off from Ravi bridge and he died [during the last long march],” he added. Imran Khan said that there were three long marches during the tenure of PTI government but his government did not stop them. “I even offered our container to them… we said we will provide food as well,” he added. Explaining why the government used such tactics, he said that the current government was fearful that an ocean of people will come to Islamabad, therefore, it used force.
“A 10-year-old boy was nabbed by police in Faisalabad… they were so fearful of us,” he added. He said that the Almighty has ordered the people not to remain ‘neutral’. “It is our duty… you cannot bow done before injustice,” he added. The former premier said that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari are billionaires but no one respects them, adding that they cannot even go to public as they fear humiliation.
Terming his Azadi March very important for the country, Imran claimed that it was as important as the freedom movement of Pakistan. Lashing out at the government for taking measures which would result in increasing inflation, Imran Khan said that now everyone knows the current government did not come to power to reduce inflation. “Electricity now costs Rs10 per unit more compared to our tenure and they are going to increase more. Diesel and petrol tariffs have been raised by Rs60. The dollar is being sold at Rs206, which is an all-time high in Pakistan. Rs700 billion has vanished from Pakistan Stock Exchange,” he added.
Claiming that Pakistan was rapidly moving forward during PTI’s tenure, he said that the country witnessed record remittances and exports. He said that WAPDA’s credit rating has been lowered which would make it tougher for Pakistan to get loans for dam projects. Imran Khan said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s development is only restricted to advertisement and he has nothing to show on the ground. “There’s a flood of inflation in country in just two months. All this game was for NRO-II. Now, they’re trying to get rid of their cases. When Raja Riaz becomes opposition leader then basically we don’t have any parliament. Media houses are being threatened not to give coverage to Imran Khan.”
He said that NAB is fearful of pursuing cases against them. “A country is run on institutions and rule of law. But now we have separate laws for powerful and poor,” he added. He said that when judiciary issues verdicts against PML-N, this party even attacks Supreme Court. “They will attack whoever they feel threatened with. Investigating agencies and judicial system in Pakistan is under threat,” he further said.
