ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Sunday that its 90-day “do or die” protest movement against the government is underway, saying that it would determine the future of the party.
Earlier this month, the PTI announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement after the Islamic month of Muharram, following a ruling by Pakistan’s top court denying the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women.
Tensions further escalated days earlier when 26 PTI provincial lawmakers were suspended by the speaker of the Punjab Assembly for 15 sessions, after they protested during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s speech on June 27.
Gandapur arrived in the eastern city of Lahore from KP on Saturday to discuss the party’s political strategy and finalize its protest movement against the government.
“We have announced a 90-day protest movement, which began yesterday [Saturday] and it will be a do-or-die movement for us, whether we remain there [in KP government] or not, ” Gandapur, flanked by the PTI’s leadership, told reporters at a news conference in Lahore.
The KP chief minister vowed that the party’s anti-government protest movement will “reach its peak” on August 5, marking two years since Khan was arrested after being convicted by a court for illegally selling state gifts.
‘REAL DECISION-MAKERS’
Khan, who has remained in prison since then, says the charges against him are politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing. His party has held various protests demanding his release and an independent investigation into the elections of February 2024. In one of the PTI’s protests in November last year, the government said four troops were killed in clashes with Khan supporters. The PTI rejects this allegation.
Gandapur alleged that the PTI was being denied its right to hold peaceful protests across the country, vowing that it would now mobilize people across the country.
“We will announce a plan accordingly, after taking all our local workers and leaders into confidence on how to proceed with this movement,” the chief minister said.
On holding talks with the government, Gandapur said his government was ready to hold talks but with the “real decision-makers,” indirectly referring to the military.
“They [military establishment] are the real decision-makers, so we will talk to them only as there is no point in talking to those [the government] who have no power to make any decisions,” Gandapur said.
Arab News reached out to federal ministers and senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party for a response, but did not receive one till the filing of this report.
Pakistan’s military says it does not interfere in political issues and rejects the PTI’s allegations that it conspired with Khan’s political opponents to oust his government in a parliamentary vote in April 2022.
Pakistan’s government has denied the PTI’s allegations of stifling dissent and says the elections of February 2024 were transparent. It accuses the former prime minister and his party of attempting to disrupt the government’s efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth via violent protests.
