Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday revealed the reasons for the postponement of his party’s anti-government rally, which was scheduled to take place in the federal capital Islamabad on Thursday (August 22).
Speaking to the media, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder said there were reports that another May 9 like conspiracy was being hatched against his party therefore he postponed his party’s rally. He said some religious parties were protesting in Islamabad and there was a fear of violence. Therefore, he said, he called Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Azam Swati and directed them to postpone the Islamabad protest rally.
Khan said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led government was planning to give extension to Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa on one hand and sabotage the seniority list of the judge on the other. He said the PML-N starts raising hue and cry about the May 9 incident whenever they learn about any contacts between the PTI and the military establishment.
Referring to the arrest of the former intelligence chief, Lt-Gen (Retd) Faiz Hameed, Khan said as a head of the largest political party of Pakistan he would call for open trial of the retired general.
It’s worth mentioning here that postponement of PTI’s August 22 rally in Islamabad came as a shock for the embattled party’s supporters. Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan also criticised the decision to postpone the Islamabad rally and said that PTI leaders were not interested in Imran Khan’s release.
