ISLAMABAD: The government decided on Tuesday to let Imran Khan and his party go ahead with his scheduled Islamabad march on Aug 14.
This decision was taken at a meeting which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held with senior leaders of his party to discuss the government’s plan for Independence Day celebrations on the day and the PTI march.
A participant of the meeting told Dawn that the prime minister asked his ministers to avoid creating an impression that the ruling party was under pressure and might opt for the confrontation.
He said that a traditional ceremony to mark the Independence Day would be held on the day to be attended by about 6,000 invited people.
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The PTI has announced its long march will reach Islamabad late in the evening and, therefore, there is no chance of an overlapping of the two events.
Referring to a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office on June 20, he said it had been decided by the civil and military leadership to regularly celebrate Aug 14 and March 23 with military parades.
For security reasons, the government had stopped holding the parades over the last few years.
On the latest demand of the PTI for a complete audit of election results, the participant said that since Mr Khan had announced that he would unveil a detailed plan of action on Aug 14, the meeting decided to wait for the announcement.
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However, the prime minister asked all party leaders to contact other political parties for evolving a broad consensus on electoral reforms for which a parliamentary committee had already been announced.
Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014
