ISLAMABAD: Blaming Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for Monday’s violence in Faisalabad, Minister for Information Pervez Rashid urged Imran Khan to call off the party’s future protest plan to save the country from further chaos.

Addressing a news conference at the Prime Minister’s House, he said that Mr Khan should accept the moral responsibility for the violence in Faisalabad because it was on his call that PTI activists allegedly had taken law into their hands and tried to use force to get shops and schools closed in the city.

During a public meeting in Islamabad on Nov 30, the PTI chief had given the call to hold protests in major cities as part of his “Plan C”. The PTI had announced that it would block major roads in Faisalabad on Dec 8, Karachi on Dec 12, Lahore on Dec 15 and in the entire country on Dec 18. The minister said that the PTI’s “Plan C” was aimed at spreading anarchy in the country.

“You will have to admit that all this arson, storming and besieging took place on your call,” he said, adding that “Imran Khan should concede that the workers are not under his discipline”. He termed the incident a replay of the Aug 30 incident of violence by PTI workers in Islamabad’s Red Zone.

However, in response to a question, the minister said the government had no plan to book Mr Khan for the incident and only those people would be charged who had taken the law into their hands.

Mr Rashid, who was accompanied by a number of PML-N lawmakers, said that violence in Faisalabad was the reflection of the inciting speeches delivered by PTI leaders over the past many months.

Replying to another question, he claimed that the PML-N had not given any call to its workers and no party leader or office-bearer was present at the site. He said it was the reaction of the local people who did not want to shut down their businesses.

He also criticised the PTI for not helping police in catching the person who shot dead a party activist during the protest. Instead of chasing the murderer, he said, the PTI tried to settle political scores by carrying the body of the activist to the residence of Punjab’s former law minister Rana Sanaullah.

Mr Rashid claimed that the government had not provided any weapons to the police for the day and asked them to exercise maximum restraint.

He concluded his press conference with an appeal to Imran Khan to avoid the politics of dead bodies.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2014