SWABI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has set up its camp near the Indus River bridge on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway near the border with Punjab where party workers from across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata would gather to proceed to Islamabad on Nov 2.

In this connection, the party leaders would hold a meeting at the camp on Sunday (today) to discuss their future line of action. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, cabinet members and senior leaders of the party would attend the meeting.

Adviser to the chief minister on information Mushtaq Ghani told Dawn in Peshawar that the chief minister, ministers, MPAs and MNAs would assemble at the camp on Nov 2 from where they would march on Islamabad.

The Punjab government on its side of the motorway blocked the route on Saturday by placing containers and dumping sand.

CM Khattak says no one can block PTI caravan from going to Islamabad

PTI has planned to assemble around 100,000 workers at the camp and then proceed to Islamabad via motorway. The party workers from some areas would also use the GT Road to reach Islamabad.

Mushtaq Ghani said that PTI chief Imran Khan during a recent visit to Peshawar had asked the chief minister to bring 50,000 workers for Islamabad ‘lockdown’.

“We have decided that we will take more than 100,000 workers to Islamabad,” Mr Ghani said, adding that the chief minister and ministers would reach Islamabad without taking their security guards and would not use the government machinery.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak dashed to the camp on motorway and addressed workers gathered there on Saturday. He said that no one could block the PTI caravan from proceeding to Islamabad on Nov 2.

Mr Khattak said that the PTI leadership had planned to hold a big public meeting at the site on Sunday (today). The leaders and workers from all over the province and tribal belt are expected to participate in the public meeting.

The chief minister demanded of the federal government to remove the containers from the GT Road and give up blockade of motorway because it was a democratic right of PTI to hold protest against the corruption of prime minister.

“If the federal government failed to remove these containers then the PTI workers know how they could be pushed aside to move to Islamabad,” he warned.

“If Imran Khan asked for tendering resignation we would follow his orders within no time,” he said.

Mr Shahram told Dawn: “The leaders and workers from the entire KP would gather at the motorway site and from there they would proceed to Islamabad for participation in Islamabad lockdown”.

The PTI leaders said that district presidents of all districts and lawmakers of the party had been told about the selected site. “We have advised them (leaders and workers) that they should reach the assembly point on the motorway at 10:00am on Tuesday,” they said.

MNA Aqibullah Khan said that if Nawaz Sharif and his family wanted to save themselves they would not be able to do so because everybody now knew that they had set up offshore companies at the cost of Pakistani people.

MNA Usman Tarakai said that all the preparations had been completed for the protest and the best option for the government was to let the party state its protest like the previous sit-in at Islamabad.

The lawmakers said that the youth leaders had assured them of complete support and in the coming Islamabad protest more participants were expected to be young educated people from across the country.

Rangaiz Khan, former Swabi district president, said that Asad Qaisar was in touch with the provincial and district leaders of the party who assured him of complete participation in the protest.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2016