Imran Khan announces countrywide protest ahead of Nov 2 lockdown
PESHAWAR, 27 October: A defying Imran Khan on Thursday evening announced to observe countrywide protests on Friday after Islamabad police stormed PTI’s youth convention in Islamabad and arrested dozens of party activists.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad the PTI Chairman said they had assured the government that their sit-in would be peaceful but even then the government launched crackdown against his party workers.
He said the government was trying to turn the peaceful protest into a violent one. He also condemned police highhandedness with his party workers particularly with female workers.
“What kind of a democratic system is in Pakistan? People are jailed for their democratic rights,” he questioned.
Following the chairman’s news conference, PTI workers took to the streets in different cities of the country including Peshawar and held protest demonstrations.
PTI supports gathered outside the Peshawar press club and shouted slogans against the federal government.
Earlier in the evening, Islamabad police and Frontier Constabulary stormed a PTI youth convention and arrested dozens of its workers.
PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and senior leader Asad Umar were there to address the convention.
Qureshi alleged that police arrested hundreds of its workers and tortured them as well.
Earlier, Imran Khan had vowed to lock down the federal capital on Nov 2 as per the scheduled plan despite the ruling of the Islamabad High Court.
Talking to media persons in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon, the PTI Chairman said holding peaceful protest is his legal and constitutional right and he would exercise his right at any cost. Imran Khan said nobody could stop him from exercising his right.
He said that using force against peaceful protesters was illegal and unconstitutional, warning the Punjab police to avoid confrontation with the participants of the protest rally.
Earlier in the day, a single bench of the Islamabad High Court headed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqi directed the capital administration not to place any containers and block roads for PTI workers on November 2.
The court ruled that no one would be allowed to shut down Islamabad. The fundamental rights of common man could not be compromised in the name of protest.
The court observed that all hospitals, schools and businesses would remain open on the day of the protest. He directed the district administration to identify a specific area for PTI’s public meeting.
Imran Khan alleged that Nawaz Sharif had destroyed national institutions only to cover up his corruption. He said if the government tried to stop his supports with force, the responsibility of the situation would rest with the government.
PTI’s leader and prominent lawyer Naeem Bukhari said the Islamabad High Court passed the orders about the Nov 2 locked down without giving them a fair hearing.
He said they would either challenge the orders in the Supreme Court or file an intra-court appeal.