SWABI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Asad Qaiser and Shahram Khan Tarakai on Sunday said that the Tuesday’s Minar-i-Pakistan rally in Lahore would prove a milestone in securing the release of the party’s founding chairman Imran Khan.

They were addressing a joint press conference in their newly-established district office in Shahmansoor Town here on Sunday flanked by various other leaders of the party.

Mr Qaiser said: “With the August 5 rally, we are launching a movement for the release of our leader, securing the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in the country.”

Tarakai said: “The central and provincial leaders and the allied partners have decided that this time, there will be various protests. This is a movement and we will continue it till achieving our goals.”

Qaiser, Tarakai ask govt not to allow military operations in merged areas

He said: “We will not allow military operations in the merged districts in any way. The provincial government should implement Imran Khan’s orders in this regard. We want education and business instead of guns, and we also want good trade relations with Afghanistan.”

He said that August 5 would be observed as a black day, marking the two years since the incarceration of Imran Khan.

He claimed that according to the Constitution, if a person’s case was not decided within a year, then he should be released on bail after that period, but regretted that Imran was being kept behind bars ‘unjustifiably’.

“We want an open trial of Imran Khan and other PTI leaders and workers in the presence of the media in the Supreme Court,” he said, adding, ‘when the judge is yours, the witness is yours, and the testimony is yours, then we don’t accept it’.

Tarakai called for the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the incidents of May 9, with a view to identifying those responsible and ensuring accountability under the law of the land. He said that after the 26th Amendment, judiciary no longer remained independent.

He said that the federal government was responsible for the deteriorating security situation in the merged districts.

The two leaders admitted that there were internal differences in PTI but declared it part of the democratic process and beauty of democracy, claiming that PTI’s leaders and workers followed Imran Khan’s directives.

“Despite all the difficulties, obstacles, internal differences and the punishment of our leaders, PTI leaders and workers will reach Minar-i-Pakistan on Tuesday,” said Mr Qaiser.

“We are focused on Tuesday’s gathering, which will prove a milestone in securing the release of the party founder,” he said.

Mr Qaiser and Mr Tarakai said though their arrest warrants had been issued they were not afraid of such tactics by the hybrid government, which had ‘stolen’ the PTI’s mandate.

“We have completed our homework for the Lahore rally and the government should not create any obstacles in the way of peaceful protests,” said Qaiser.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2025