LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Q senior central leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said he believes that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf will take out its ‘Azadi march’ on Aug 14 as per schedule despite calling out of army by the government under Article 245.

Talking to the media before dispatching relief goods for IDPs of North Waziristan here on Sunday, he asserted that the PTI march would be taken out at all costs.

He told a questioner that efforts being made by Chaudhry Shujaat would be fruitful and soon Dr Tahirul Qadri, Imran Khan and leaders of other parties would be seen together on one platform.

Responding to a query about the Model Town incident, he said one scapegoat was not enough to absolve the rulers of the responsibility for the tragedy (a reference to resignation of law minister Rana Sanaullah). He said the rulers would have to offer more sacrifices shortly.

He said that even sparrow could not move without the permission of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif then how come bullets were fired without his knowledge and permission.

He said (former principal secretary to the CM) Tauqeer Shah’s SMS was enough which, according to Mr Elahi, clearly stated that the orders being given on the direction of the chief minister.

The PML-Q leader said he hoped that Aug 14 would bring a message of welfare and betterment for the people and the bad news for the rulers.

PTI asked to shun march and serve people

“The marchers on Islamabad will return only after ousting the rulers.”

About the IDPs issue, he said if the government had launched the Waziristan operation after due deliberations then why the lodging and boarding arrangements for IDPs were not made before hand.

He said the PML-Q would collect relief goods and hand them over to Muslim League Fata president Ajmal Wazir for distributing among the IDPs.

Muhammad Basharat Raja, Zulfiqar Pappan, Sheikh Umar Hayat, Khadeeja Farooqi, Seemal Kamran, Syeda Majida Zaidi and other leaders accompanied him.

Meanwhile, Punjab Law Minister Rana Mashhood has said the people are fully aware of the steps taken by the Punjab government for displaced families of North Waziristan.

He lamented that the Chaudhrys did not refrain from point-scoring even on the IPDs matter.

He said that those talking about the Aug 14 long march should first peep into their conscience. He said there was no political worth of the Chaudhrys and they were wandering for their personal interests.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014