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Updated 25 Oct, 2016 06:00pm

Did not invite DPC to participate in Islamabad 'lockdown': Shah Mahmood

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday denied that the party had invited the Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC) to participate in the PTI's planned siege of Islamabad on Nov 2.

"DPC has its own ideology, they are holding their programme on Oct 28. We can not stop them but we did not invite them. We did not invite DPC or Shuhada Foundation."

Explore: Lal Masjid ready to join anti-govt move

The government has been creating the impression that PTI has been inviting militant organisations to participate in Nov 2 lockdown, Qureshi alleged, adding, that "this is governmental propaganda…We are against extremism."

"We never invited any militant organisation ever," he claimed.

Read more: PML-N accuses Imran of patronising ‘banned groups’

We are inviting people, students, farmers, labourers and all those who are against tyranny and injustice, no matter with which party they belong to, he said.

PTI has planned siege of Islamabad on Nov 2, where the party has threatened to "lock down" the capital. The PTI has vowed not to let the government function if the prime minister does not give himself up for accountability for the revelations made about his family's off-shore wealth in the Panama Papers.

In an unexpected development on Monday, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri accepted PTI's request to join the planned showdown.

'Accidental coordination?'

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday raised questions about the timing of the Quetta and Peshawar attacks, cross-border firing, and the planned 'lockdown' of Islamabad.

"India attacks Line of Control and Working Boundary, Quetta and Peshawar attacked from Afghanistan, Imran Khan preparing to attack Islamabad. Accidental coordination?"

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, responded to Asif's tweet saying it is "shameful to play politics now".

"Delete your tweet. Delete your account. Delete your ministry. Delete your government. Shameful to play politics now! Ignore clowns. Do your job," the PPP leader said.

'Army not backing PTI'

The PML-N on Monday dismissed the possibility of the army backing the PTI, saying the party was "fooling the nation" into believing the army was with them.

The PTI chief earlier, termed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif "the biggest security threat" in the country, claiming the premier was isolating the army. Imran also said the PM would be responsible if democracy was derailed and a "third power stepped in" as a result of the Islamabad 'lockdown', but quickly denied the party was trying to "bring in" such a power.

The PML-N, in an apparent response to the PTI's statements on Tuesday, said that the army had no role in the Islamabad sit-in.

"Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid are fooling the nation into believing that the army is with the PTI and will make their agitation a success," said PML-N MNA Tallal Chaudhry.

Imran Khan had also given a similar, false impression during the 2014 sit-in when he implied that a "third force" was backing his party. "But if that was true, it would have come to the fore," the PML-N MNA said.

Read more: Army not backing Imran: PML-N

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