LAHORE: Rejecting a perception that he is planning to wind up the Islamabad sit-in, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has vowed to continue his campaign to awaken the nation by holding public meetings in major cities across Pakistan.

“I knew that I will be able to defeat the status quo in Pakistani politics when the whole nation will stand by me,” he said as the Minar-i-Pakistan lawns in Lahore resonated with the “Go Nawaz Go” slogan.

Addressing a mammoth gathering on Sunday, Mr Khan challenged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to bring in his home-town only 10 per cent of the people attending his rally.

Lauding the masses’ passion for getting rid of what he called the corrupt and fake-mandated PML-N government, the PTI leader said he was on a mission to awaken the nation against slavery and injustices.

As he announced that he would hold his next public gatherings in Mianwali and Multan, Mr Khan said he feared that Nawaz Sharif might resign now. “Nawaz Sharif don’t resign so soon because I want to awaken the entire nation against the politics of status quo that has deprived the masses of their basic human rights,” he said sarcastically.

Stating that today’s Pakistan was only for those amassing wealth at the cost of the poor, Mr Khan said the ‘Naya Pakistan’ was in the making and it would ensure justice to all, offer a uniform education system and syllabus for everyone. “We need to support the 110 million Pakistanis who are being forced to live below the poverty line because the rulers were squandering public money for their personal comforts.”

The PTI chief sought pledges from the people at the rally and also from the masses at large not to allow injustice against anyone.

Reiterating his allegations about massive rigging in the 2013 general elections, Mr Khan said he had the experience of the system of justice in the country and found “there is no institution in Pakistan that can dispense impartial justice”.

He said all those who had stolen his party’s mandate would be punished under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He said all political parties had joined hands to protect the status quo in the name of saving democracy, adding that all of them wanted to save the wealth they had amassed by plundering public resources.

Accusing Nawaz Sharif of having stolen public mandate, the PTI chief warned him that he would not let him live peacefully until getting justice.

He called upon the Election Commission of Pakistan to upload Form 4 on its website that would reveal results declared by polling in each constituency.

Published in Dawn, September 29th , 2014