GUJRAT: In a bid to maintain pressure on the prime minister, which has apparently eased after the Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s exit from Islamabad’s D-Chowk, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan asked people from throughout the country on Friday to reach the federal capital on Nov 30.

“The PTI sit-in will continue till the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif even if I remain alone in the container,” he told a public meeting at Zahoor Elahi stadium.

He alleged Mr Sharif did not want to resign for the sake of receiving commission of billions of rupees on the contracts to be signed by the government.

Mr Khan urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop appeasing extremist forces of his country through anti-Pakistan rhetoric and said poverty was the biggest challenge which needed to be addressed by nations of the Sub-continent.

Without resolving the Kashmir issue, he said, India and Pakistan could not achieve the goal of poverty alleviation as war had never been a solution and had always enhanced poverty.

“Nawaz Sharif has remained silent on anti-Pakistan statements made by the Indian premier merely to secure his family’s business interests in India since it is engaged in trade with Indian companies,” he said.

The PTI chief said he had a plan to bring huge foreign investment, including investment by expatriate Pakistanis, to the country to rid it of foreign loans. Overseas Pakistanis were keen to bring money to their motherland only if they were provided security and safety, he added.

Praising the PAT for continuing its sit-in for 70 days, he said the PTI did not have any plan to leave Islamabad and nobody should have any misunderstanding about that.

He appealed to people to make donations to his party to enable it to continue the sit-in, insisting he would never seek money from rich people and feudal lords.

“If the PTI runs short of funds for the sit-in, I will stay in a tent but will never leave Islamabad without achieving my goals,” Mr Khan said.

After the PTI’s coming to power, he said, the governor house in Lahore would be demolished and replaced by a playing ground whereas Nathia Gali’s governor house would be turned into a hotel and Peshawar and Quetta’s governor houses into women’s parks.

He said although 60 per cent of the country’s population comprised youth, most of them did not have good education facilities, employment opportunities and facilities for recreation because the government did not care about them.

Imran Khan claimed that police and the National Accountability Bureau in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been freed of political interference, but in Islamabad and Punjab, loyalty to the Sharif family had become a criterion for officials to get a better posting.

The PTI would introduce reforms in all government departments, he said, adding that he would focus on freeing police of political pressure and rebuilding other national institutions.

He expressed sorrow over the suicide attack on Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and said that although the Maulana had insulted woman activists of the PTI for their participation in the sit-in, he was sad over the incident.

How could the country progress without participation of women in different fields as they comprised more than half of the national population, he wondered.

The PTI chief pledged to change the “corrupt system” with the support of poor and deprived people of the country.

Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed said Imran Khan would soon give a call for a country-wide wheel-jam strike to ensure removal of the government.

The Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, PTI Punjab president Ijaz Chaudhary and Dr Yasmeen Rashid also spoke at the rally.

Before Imran’s speech, PTI songs managed to hold the crowd’s attention. But as soon as Imran Khan started his speech, many people, particularly youth, began leaving the venue. Half of the participants had already left by the time he completed his speech.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014