PESHAWAR: Bushra Bibi, the wife of PTI founder Imran Khan, has said the party’s plann­­ed protest on November 24 will not be put off.

In a rare video message on Thursday, Bushra Bibi, who usually refrains from public appearances and interviews, said there was no truth to reports of a change in the protest’s date.

“The protest date could only be changed on the condition that Imran Khan is released from prison and he gives a course of action to the public,” said Mr Khan’s spouse in a video message shared on PTI’s official X handle.

She asked the public not to believe the reports and to come out of their homes on Nov 24 to join the protest.

The video message came a few hours after the Islamabad High Court ruled PTI’s protest as “unlawful” and directed the federal government to maintain law and order in the federal capital without disrupting public life.

Conspiracy

In her message, Bushra Bibi also made revelations about the alleged conspiracy by foreign powers to oust her husband’s government and blamed foreign powers for it.

She claimed that after Mr Khan arrived barefooted to visit Madina, the then army chief, Qamar Jawed Bajwa, “started getting calls” about the ex-PM.

Ms Bibi accompanied Mr Khan during the visits from 2018 to 2021.

Without naming any country, the former first lady said: “When he [Mr Khan] returned, [Gen] Bajwa started getting calls [asking] ‘who have you brought into power? We’re abolishing Sharia in this country, and you have brought a proponent of Sharia. We don’t want him’.”

Ms Bibi claimed that her husband never made this issue public and said Gen Bajwa and his family should be questioned about this. Several media reports on Thursday night claimed the former general has denied the allegations, while her claims also prompted widespread concern within party circles, with many saying her remarks could hurt ongoing backchannel efforts.

Mr Khan’s spouse also asked the police and law enforcement agencies to “not go overboard” in their actions against the party’s peaceful protesters.

She claimed her husband was being held in a “cramped space” for more than a year and asked if it was not the duty of lawyers and judges to provide justice to her husband.

Peaceful protest

A similarly defiant tone was struck by PTI leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, who said the party has “pitched itself against the establishment” and vowed to hold the protest on the announced date.

“We have a Plan B, Plan C and even Plan D to prove that November 24 is a final call from the party founder Imran Khan,” asserted Mr Bhachar, who is also the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly.

While addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday, Mr Bhachar warned of a “re-enactment of May 9” violence if the government used force against the protesters.

He asserted that the PTI had planned a peaceful protest in Islamabad, but “we cannot give any guarantee to stay peaceful”.

While commenting on talks with the government, he said the ruling coalition “had no power, and the PTI could not enter into dialogue with pawns”.

The PTI leader claimed the government was already blocking access to Lahore and other cities.

Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024