PTI call off protests nationwide, decides to focus on long march

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership on Friday announced to call off all protests across the country and instead focus on the long march.

The meeting was chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan at Banigala following his disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the Toshakhana reference.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Secretary General Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Babar Awan, Senator Shibli Faraz, Shireen Mazari, Murad Saeed, Senator Faisal Javed, Farrukh Habib, Omar Ayub and other leaders attended the meeting.

The meeting strongly condemned the decision by the election commission to disqualify Imran Khan. It was decided to approach the court against the verdict.

The meeting also mulled dissolving the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly. According to sources, the chief ministers of the two provinces have given the decision to dissolve the assemblies to Imran Khan.

Imran Khan instructed all party workers to end all protest demonstrations that have been staged across the country and instead focus on the long march. He said the date for the long march is not being announced today but all nationwide protests should be called off.

After the verdict, PTI workers and supporters hit the streets to record their protest against Imran Khan’s disqualification. The protests were killed in cities across the country including Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Multan, Sukkur and Quetta.

In Lahore, PTI women lawmakers staged a sit-in at Jail Road leading to a severe traffic jam in the area. The workers also chanted slogans outside the Punjab Election Commission office to express their resentment against the verdict.

In Karachi, a protest was held outside the ECP office. PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi led a rally from Shahrah-e-Faisal to the ECP’s office where a heavy contingent of police were deployed.

It must be mentioned that the ECP had disqualified PTI chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana reference under Article 63(I)(P).

The election commission ruled that Imran Khan submitted a false affidavit in his tax return and ordered to register criminal cases against him.  The verdict further said that some of the gifts retained from Toshakhana were not revealed in the asset declaration.

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