-Imran Khan confident March to achieve target at any circumstances
-Says PTI to back down only after get-ting date for elections
-Reiterates going against institution is not an option for his party
LAHORE: PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while speaking to workers at Zaman Park, Lahore, announced that the party’s long march will be resumed on Thursday (November 10).
This is the third time that the party has changed the date of the march. First, the party had said the march will be resumed on Tuesday, November 8 but later changed the date to Wednesday, November 9.
Qureshi also said that despite the passage of many hours, a first infor-mation report (FIR) has not been filed against the attack on party chief Imran Khan. “Registering an FIR is our top-most priority right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said Monday that the party’s long march would achieve its target “no matter what the circumstances” as the former prime minister pressurises the government in his quest for snap polls.
Khan is currently recovering in Lahore from the bullet injuries that he sus-tained in the Wazirabad attempted assassination attack. He was discharged from the Shaukat Khanum Hospital a day earlier.
The ex-prime minister, during a meeting with representatives of media bodies, said that the party would back down only after getting the date for general elections.
Khan said that no compromise can be made with coalition rulers, including PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
In a change of plans, Khan said the march would resume on Wednesday (November 9) instead of Tuesday. The PTI chief did not give a reason for the delay.
He said the march would be led by PTI Secretary-General Asad Umar and the party’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The long march had come to a halt last week after the attack on Khan.
The PTI chief — who has been critical of the armed forces since his ouster in April — said that the personnel of the army standing guard on the bor-ders were like his “children”.
Khan said that going against the institution was not an option for the par-ty.
The former prime minister has blamed three people, including a senior military official, for the Wazirabad attack and also called for his dismissal. However, the army has rejected the allegation and termed it “baseless”.
Earlier in the day, the PTI chairman wrote a letter to President Arif Alvi saying that the entire nation has been supporting his call for “Haqeeqi Azadi” ever since the PTI government was toppled.
PTI has been facing false allegations, harassment, baseless arrests and tac-tics like torture in detention, he wrote, adding that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah repeatedly “threatens to kill me”.
He urged the president to arrange an investigation to determine who is re-sponsible and to hold the culprits accountable.–Agencies
