ISLAMABAD: PTI chief Imran Khan is on the war path. On Monday, he ratcheted up the pressure by announcing that the next day he would walk into the ‘red zone’ and asked his charged up workers gathered at the dharna to follow him.

“We will stage a peaceful protest outside the National Assembly on Tuesday which was established after the rigging in the general elections of May 2013 and the next destination of our peaceful protest will be the Prime Minister House,” Khan thundered.

Speaking to his workers who had thronged the rally site in as much strength as the previous night, the former cricketer warned the police to avoid confrontation with the peaceful protesters, otherwise he would not be responsible for the consequences.

“I am worried because the police are ours and you are also mine and I do not want any clash with the police. That’s why I have decided I will lead the march to the ‘red zone’,” he said to the protesters.

According to some channels, he will begin walking towards the zone at six in the evening on Tuesday.

As was the routine on other evenings, he kept giving short speeches at frequent intervals, addressing an excited crowd that he kept calling ‘junooni’.

He told the cheering crowds that the temperature in Islamabad would shoot up sharply on Tuesday before adding that, “It will be difficult for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government to face the challenge of civil disobedience in the upcoming days if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will not resign on the demands of the people of Pakistan.”

In fact, he had begun his first speech of the evening by bringing up his call of civil disobedience of the day before, saying that some of his followers had misunderstood what he meant.

However, except for adding that the movement would ensure the end of Sharif rule, he did not explain how the movement would commence; nor did he answer any of the questions that tax experts, economists and others had been raising since Sunday night.

The charged up crowds who were busy cheering him and dancing to the songs played by DJ Butt didn’t seem to care either.

Earlier in the day, his parliamentarians — apart from the ones sitting in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly — had already handed in their resignations to their party head.

This announcement came just one day after Khan had already stunned the entire country on Sunday night by threatening a storming of the ‘red zone’ and civil disobedience movement.

He was not the only one who was in the mood for a long drawn out battle.

Just a green belt away, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri also gave a new ultimatum to the government on Monday afternoon, a few hours before Khan spoke to his followers.

The cleric announced that he had decided not to confine the Inqilab agitation to the federal capital; instead it would now be spread to all the four provinces of the country.

“From today the Inqilab will start throughout the country,” he said.

He did not elaborate how and at what locations the provincial-level demonstrations will be staged.

Later a PAT spokesman, Ainul Haq, told Dawn that expanding the agitation in all four provinces of the country did not mean that the dharna in Islamabad will be wrapped up.

“While sitting in Islamabad, our workers will simultaneously stage dharnas in the four provinces,” he claimed.

During the same speech, Dr Qadri warned the government that if PAT’s charter of demands would not be met till midnight (when the 48 hour deadline given by Dr Qadri will end) he would announce his next course of action.

The spokesman added that at the midnight address, Dr Qadri will also elaborate upon the provincial-level dharnas.

While he was delivering the speech, a powerful speaker on the stage short-circuited, adding to the confusion and high drama.

Giving a lengthy address as usual, Dr Qadri lashed out at the government for ‘jamming’ his Land Cruiser SUV in which he travels a half kilometre – from his containers to the stage.

“On the one hand, the government sends seven warning letters to me that the Taliban and others can attack me but on the other it jams my security vehicle,” he said.

He also brought up the Model Town incident again to assert that the Sharifs had lost the right to rule.

The PAT chairman specifically addressed the citizens of Sindh, Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and provided a list of problems confronting them and vowed to address them all.

From the security situation in Karachi to the poor education facilities in Balochistan, he discussed it all.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2014