ISLAMABAD: The PTI chairman, Imran Khan, on Sunday dashed the hopes of most of the party workers by instructing them to prepare for continuing the sit-in for another two weeks.

A senior leader of the PTI told Dawn that the party chairman was still hopeful that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would resign. He asked the party leaders to bring people to the sit-in for two weeks.

A meeting of the PTI Punjab chapter was held at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House to discuss the fate of the sit-in after the devastating floods in the country.

Imran Khan has once again ordered local PTI leaders to bring more people to the sit-ins

He said most of the participants of the meeting were hopeful that the party chairman would ask them to wrap up the sit-in in about two or three days.

“The meeting apparently was called to boost the morale of the party workers and supporters as Imran Khan said the government’s position would become weak with each passing day and it would accept the demand of the prime minister’s resignation,” he said.

However, MPAs from Punjab did not attend the meeting fearing that the party chairman would reprimand them in front of other participants.

“Their request for a separate meeting was accepted and they were called to meet Imran Khan on Monday.”

He said some party leaders referred to the criticism in the media of the PTI leadership for not visiting the flood-affected areas. But the meeting decided that the party would collect donations to support Imran Khan Foundation to help the internally-displaced persons of North Waziristan and the flood-affected people in Punjab.

The party also decided that its office-bearers in the Rawalpindi division would bring people to the sit-in in the evening.

The PTI chairman allowed the party leaders to do their personal work and look after their businesses in the morning and attend the sit-in the evening, he said.

The senior PTI leader said the attendance of the people in the sit-in was gradually improving and the gathering should be maintained for two more weeks.

When contacted, PTI district president and MPA Arif Abbasi admitted that the meeting was held at the KP House. He said the party chairman was hopeful that all its demands, including the resignation of the prime minister, would be accepted.

He said the party asked all the district presidents in the region to bring more people to the sit-in. He said the result of the sit-in would be clear within two weeks as hinted by the party chairman.

PTI MPA Ijaz Khan from Rawalpindi PP-12 added that the MPAs would hold a separate meeting with Imran Khan on Monday. He said the chairman would discuss the performance of the MPAs and give new directions to them to improve their work in the constituencies.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2014