March not ‘politics’ but a ‘war for the future of Pakistan’
PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday announced that his party’s long march towards Islamabad for the country’s “haqeeqi azadi” would commence from Lahore’s Liberty Chowk on October 28, Friday.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, flanked by the party’s top leadership, the former prime minister said the march will begin from the Liberty Chowk at 11am and he will lead it himself.
“This is our march for haqeeqi azaadi and it has no timeframe. We will reach Islamabad from the GT Road and the nation will come from across Pakistan to Islamabad. “I am predicting this will be the biggest sea of people in the history of the country,” Imran claimed.
Going on, he clarified that the long march was “not politics” but a “war for the future of Pakistan.
“This is something way beyond politics, it is a war for freedom from these thieves that have been imposed over us. This jihad will decide where the country will go.”
Elaborating on the demands of the march, the former premier said that he only wanted one thing: “The decision of who will head the country belongs to the public.”
“We want that the people make the decision. Today, I am appealing to the entire nation that you will have to decide […] do we want to go on this way of becoming a free country or serve these thieves.” In response to a question, he said that the protest would be peaceful. “We are not going to break the law or go into the Red Zone. Whatever will happen in Islamabad, it will be according to what the courts have permitted us.
“We have given instructions to everyone to remain peaceful and we will just show where the nation stands.”
At the outset of the press conference, the PTI chief said he had planned the march earlier. “We held a peaceful protest on May 25 but they inflicted violence on us. And if I had not called it off then the next day there really would’ve been discord and blood in the country,” he said.
“Hence, to save my country and prevent chaos, I called it off,” he added. Imran went on to say that he wanted to clarify the purpose of the march because he was told that he was being irresponsible as the country was going through a tough time.
