MULTAN: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan says he wants to come to power with the support of people and not of the establishment.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday after offering condolences to families of five people who had lost their lives during a stampede at the end of the PTI public meeting on Friday, he said: “There are two ways to come to power – either with the support of the establishment or with the support of the public. I prefer people’s support.”

He said he would have been in power had he sought the support of the establishment. “One will have to obey the establishment if he comes to power with its help.”

He said that neither the PTI nor the (district) administration was expecting such a large number of people in his Multan meeting.

Mr Khan blamed the administration for the tragic incident and said the main gate which the people had used to enter the stadium was closed when they were leaving. He called for an independent and transparent judicial inquiry to fix responsibility and avert such incidents in future.

He said all the doors should have been kept open and investigators should ascertain who had locked the doors. He said people had suffered dehydration because of non-availability of drinking water.

He said he wanted to visit Multan to congratulate people on the success of the public meeting but had to come here for offering condolences. He said he was saddened by the suffering of the families, adding that the father of one of the victims had given donation to the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Hospital.

The PTI chief said his party would work with the district administration of Sargodha for arrangements for the public meeting there. “We don’t want to put the lives of people in danger.”

He said he would personally supervise the arrangements and decide who would be on the dais at the Sargodha meeting. There were a large number of people on the dais in Multan and that created problems. “Now I have decided that I will control the stage.”

Mr Khan congratulated Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and said whatever she was saying about girls’ education was also in his party’s manifesto.

According to him, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari are supporting each other. “We are in competition with the PML-N and PPP which want continuation of the status quo,” he said.

Earlier, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the Friday meeting was the largest in Multan’s history, adding that Imran Khan had promised to arrange jobs for heirs of the victims in Dubai and Muscat.

At one point Mr Qureshi was irritated by journalists’ tough questions and said it was a press conference and “we are not sitting before a tribunal”.

The PTI’s district president, Ejaz Janjua, boycotted the press conference after he did not find his name on the security clearance list and was not given a seat.

Later talking to reporters, he complained that elected office-bearers had not been invited to the press conference which was held at the residence of a person who had been defeated in the party election. He said that only he was being blamed for the poor arrangements of the Multan meeting, although he had kept Mr Qureshi informed about the arrangements.

Earlier, Imran Khan offered condolences to the families of Saleemullah, Muawia Hassan, Salman, Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Azam.

Meanwhile, the inquiry committee constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif recorded statements of District Coordination Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal, City Police Officer Chaudhry Sultan Gujar, some injured people and officials of Rescue 1122 and other departments.

The committee comprising Punjab Environment Secretary Iqbal Mohammad Chohan, Home Department’s Special Secretary Shoaib Akbar and Deputy Inspector General Ali Amir Malik will submit its report in a couple of days.

It had also summoned PTI’s district president Ejaz Janjua, but he did not appear because his party had rejected the committee and demanded a judicial inquiry.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2014