ISLAMABAD Oct 24: Chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan has announced that his party will organize peace rallies in all major cities of the country to condemn the US bombing on civilian targets and unnecessary prolongation of military campaign against hapless Afghans.

Talking to Dawn here on Wednesday, Imran Khan expressed his doubt that the military government would hold general elections on schedule. Mr Khan, however, said his party would continue to demand holding of free and fair polls in the country within the timeframe, given by the Supreme Court.

The PTI chief vowed to lead the nation in this time of agony and restore national pride and glory. He said no one knew when the US-led military operation would complete in Afghanistan as its target of toppling Taliban regime and replacing it with an acceptable set-up did not appear to be in sight.

In his opinion, the process of bringing a broad-based set-up would have been more easy, had the armed campaign not started in Afghanistan. He said there was no room for any broad-based government without a national consensus. Replying to a question, he said any externally imposed set-up, even if it was a broad- based, would not work in the given circumstances. He feared even if the present military campaign end up at killing of both Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, there was no guarantee that the so- called terrorism would be rooted out and the matter would become even more complex for the campaigners.

To come out of this quagmire, Mr Khan advised the Musharraf government to exert full pressure on the Americans to make their military campaign as short as possible. He said the American attack on Afghanistan was ill-timed, irrational and hasty one, while the role of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) was too passive and ineffective.

He said the whole nation was condemning US attacks on Afghanistan while the politicians were supporting the Musharraf’s stand as in their opinion there was no alternative left with the president in presence of Indian factor. He warned if the ongoing anti-terrorism campaign by the US and its allies was not over within shortest possible time, it would also go against the military government as the masses would rise against it.

Commenting on the decision of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) of launching a movement against the government’s policies, he said it was only an opportunistic move as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif owed to nation the reply to his compromise with the US by training Pakistani commandos to get Osama.

The senior vice-president of the PTI, Nawabzada Mohsin Ali Khan, and the information secretary, Akbar S Babar, were also present on the occasion.