RAWAT – Ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday called upon his supporters to reach Rawalpindi on November 26 and join him in the final phase of his party’s long march or “Haqiqi Azadi March”.
Beginning from Lahore on October 28, Khan’s long march came to an abrupt halt on November 3 when he and 11 others were injured in a gun attack in the Punjab town of Wazirabad. Later, Khan announced the march would resume from the same place where it was halted. On last Thursday, the march resumed from Wazirabad without Khan, who is recovering from bullet wounds at his Lahore residence.
“You all have to reach Rawalpindi on November 26 between 1pm and 2pm,” Khan told his supporters who had gathered in Rawat, a town on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Addressing the participants in PTI’s long march through a video link from his Lahore residence, Khan said, “I’ll meet you there. I’ll be giving you the next plan of action there.”
In his speech, Khan reiterated his demand for free and fair elections to steer Pakistan out of the prevailing economic and political turmoil. He said the incumbent coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had “no roadmap” to solve people’s problems.
چیئرمین پاکستان تحریک انصاف @ImranKhanPTI نے 26 نومبر کو عوام کو راولپنڈی پہنچنے کی کال دے دی۔ #نکلو_حقیقی_آزادی_کیلئے pic.twitter.com/i4jWQLi3YS
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 19, 2022
Khan, who is also chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or the Pakistan Justice Movement, said, “We’ll demand one thing and that is free and fair elections.” He said his movement will continue until "true freedom" is achieved.
Khan made it clear that he wasn't leading the anti-government movement for political gains. Rather, he said, it was his mission to ensure rule of law in Pakistan and bring the powerful to account. “Everyone knows my life is in danger, but I know death is better than slavery,” he said.
The PTI chairman said, “We want a sovereign country where the nation makes its own decisions independently.” He questioned the powerful military establishment for allegedly imposing a government of what he called a "gang of crooks."
Khan said, “I want to ask the establishment, what happened during the three-and-a-half years of my rule that they [the rulers] became eligible to be imposed on us?” He said the Sharifs and Zardaris, Pakistan's two prominent political families, were removed from power by the military in the '90s on charges of corruption.
He asked the military establishment, “Name a single benefit that they have brought to Pakistan in the last seven months”. All economic indicators, including industrial and agricultural growth, were positive during his tenure, he said.
Khan urged the Pakistani nation to join his anti-government march to bring about real change in the country through a peaceful struggle. “You can’t be neutral,” he told supporters. “Your future generations will repent if you become neutral now.”