LAHORE: A day before his long march commencing from Lahore, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday visited the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) and handed over a cheque of Rs50 million to its president as a grant from the Punjab government.

In a brief address, Khan told the lawyers that he was going to launch his long march for “haqiqi azadi” from Lahore. He said the long march was a final round of his struggle for the nation. Khan urged the lawyers to participate in the long march of the PTI.

He assured the lawyers of more facilities on behalf of the provincial government including health cards and passing of lawyers’ protection bill.

The former prime minister said he would also ask the provincial government to release funds for the establishment of a hospital for the lawyers.

On his return, some lawyers standing outside the main gate of Aiwan-i-Adl chanted slogans against him. They called Khan “watch thief” and “cheeni (sugar) thief”.

In retaliation for the slogans, a man apparently from the security squad of Khan forcibly pushed a lawyer back.

The LBA did not issue any invitation to the media for the coverage of the visit of the PTI chairman. An office-bearer of the bar claimed that the visit of Khan was a low-profile event due to security reasons.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2022