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RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) has accelerated its campaign to mobilise the people of Rawalpindi division for its ‘Azadi’ march on August 14 to Parliament House in Islamabad. The party has also decided to arrange workers’ conventions in all four districts of the division from August 3.
However, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, president of the Awami Muslim League (AML) and a close supporter of Imran Khan, has still not been contacted by the local chapter of the PTI.
PTI’s high command directed its district chapter to gather more than 300 people from each of the 184 union councils (UCs) in the district.
It was also asked for 50,000 motorcycles and 3,500 wagons to be arranged to take participants to Islamabad.
Local chapter steps up drive to ensure large turnout for long march to parliament; Rashid says he’s in touch with central leadership
Local party officials were also told to make arrangements for extra fuel in case the Punjab government stopped the supply of petrol and diesel in the twin cities.
The party has also decided to contact the people whose lands have been acquired for the metro bus project.
Imran gives PTI cadres a go-ahead for ‘Azadi March’
“We have already launched the campaign to mobilise the people for the public meeting and sit-in outside the Parliament House on August 14. We visited different areas to gather support over the Eid holidays,” Sadaqat Abbasi, PTI’s northern Punjab president, told Dawn on Thursday.
He said that worker conventions would be held in all the tehsils of northern Punjab from Sargodha to Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He said the conventions would start from Chakwal and Sargodha on August 3 and end in Rawalpindi on August 9.
When asked about mobilisation of people in NA-56, the constituency that elected PTI chief Imran Khan as its MNA in the 2013 elections, he said there was no need to arrange a big public gathering in the constituency because the residents were already aware of the event.
He claimed that more than 500,000 people would come to Islamabad for the rally from Rawalpindi division alone.
To another question, he said the PTI local chapter had not contacted the AML president for the mobilisation campaign.
When contacted, Sheikh Rashid said his party would participate in the Azadi march and in this regard the AML had started a mobilisation campaign.
“The PTI’s central leadership is in contact with me. Dr Tahirul Qadri, I and other politicians will participate in the march to highlight the wrongdoings of the government and for the election reforms,” he said.
“The government is afraid of the march and has taken a wrong decision to invoke Article 245 of the Constitution. It will fall into a trap of its own making and then will realise that it was a wrong decision,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014
