LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has announced to hold a public gathering at Miner-e-Pakistan on March 19 (Sunday) after he led his party’s election rally peacefully here on Monday, the first electoral activity led by him in a period of more than four months.
With a major show of power in the provincial capital, the former PM formally kicked off the election campaign in Punjab where elections were to be held for the provincial assembly’s seats on April 30. He had earlier announced to lead the rally on March 12, but after the local administration imposed Section 144 in the city on the same day, he rescheduled the rally for Monday.
The rally began from his Zaman Park residence and after travelling through Iqbal road, Dharampura, Garhi Shahu, Railway Station, Delhi Gate, Shah Alam and Lohari Gate, it concluded at Data Darbar where the PTI chief announced to stage a power show on coming Sunday.
While addressing his supporters from his bullet-proof car, he said that he was fighting this ‘war’ for the nation and not for his personal gains, because the country was on the verge of collapse. “We need a collective effort to save the country and I invite all the countrymen to join his fight to achieve ‘haqeeqi azad’ (true freedom),” he added.
Imran Khan postpones PTI's election rally in Lahore till tomorrow
“We faced huge hurdles in the way of taking out an election rally; the imported government was making all efforts to prevent us from taking a part in the elections and subsequently, push us out of the election race. It was registering fake cases against me and my PTI leaders; every day, a new case was being registered against me,” he added.
Talking about the ‘Thoshakhana’ list, he averred that the truth has come out and exposed the opponents who had looted the national resources. “Truth would also come out in the foreign funding case and it would stun everyone, as foreign funding of PML-N and PPP would be exposed,” he added.
While expressing gratitude to the party supporters for giving an overwhelming response to his rally, he said that today’s turnout has uncovered the reason behind the government’s reluctance to allow the rally; they knew that the people in large numbers would come out. “On March 8, they stopped our rally and then again on March 12 they refused to permit the rally. On behalf of the nation, I want to tell the ‘people’ that we would not forget or forgive the murder of our party worker Zille Shah and police brutality; the police officers and others who committed atrocities would face justice at all cost,” he added.
He called on the people of Lahore to start preparing for the power show at Minar-e-Pakistan; they would hold this public gathering in daylight so that everyone could see how many people were supporting his struggle for the ‘haqeeqi azadi’. “I would address the rally and explain how to take the country out of its current mess,” he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration placed barricades around Zaman Park and on the route of the rally amid the imposition of Section 144. Containers were parked on roads in several areas, including Garhi Shahu, Canal Road and Dharampura as pre-emptive measures by the police, which disrupted the flow of traffic.
The district administration had allowed the PTI to take out the rally after warning that it was not only risking the lives of the party leadership but also of the workers and the general public, as there were general and specific threats against political gatherings. However, the rally dispersed peacefully and no incident was reported.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023