• Imran committed to ‘final call’ despite reservations, says Aleema
• Party hints at fresh strategy to mobilise protesters at constituency level
• Insiders admit widespread arrests during previous protests have drained supporters’ morale

ALTHOUGH the PTI is publicly gritting its teeth in the wake of Imran Khan’s latest call for a crippling protest across the country, there are strong apprehensions within party circles about leaders and workers’ ability to sustain a long-drawn movement, given the toll recent abortive attempts at fomenting anti-government unrest have taken on the rank and file.

In a press conference, the party’s new spokesperson Sheikh Waqqas Akram declared that workers from across the country would converge on Islamabad on Nov 24 and would not return home until their demands are accepted.

The three demands, as elucidated by Mr Khan’s sister, include reversal of the 26th Amendment, the return of their ‘stolen mandate’ and the release of illegitimately incarcerated PTI leaders, including Imran Khan.

But after meeting the PTI founder on Thursday, even Aleema Khan admitted that she had expressed her reservations with the issuance of a ‘final call’ so early, but said her brother was adamant that the protest should go ahead as planned.

Since the announcement of the Nov 24 call, PTI’s Punjab leadership circles are conspicuous by their relative silence, as their X (formerly Twitter) accounts and WhatsApp groups have not witnessed any major activity.

Insiders posit that this could be due to the backlash witnessed in the wake of the party’s previous push to protest at Islamabad’s D-Chowk around the time of the SCO summit, which many from within and without the party had termed a ‘flop show’.

However, PTI Punjab Information Secretary Shaukat Basra told Dawn that ‘radio silence’ was being maintained as the leadership was busy formulating a strategy to ensure the success of the upcoming protests.

But whether the ‘failure’ of the earlier round of protests — led by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and a handful of other leaders — is blamed on the government’s high-handed response or PTI’s own failure to mobilise workers, leaders agree that the multiple protest calls and postponements had drained the morale of party workers and supporters.

This is because dozens and dozens of workers and supporters, who were arrested during the earlier round of protests, have had to endure an arduous journey to secure bail.

Mr Basra said they knew the incumbent rulers would leave no stone unturned in their efforts to prevent their supporters from reaching Islamabad, but claimed that this time around, a broader strategy was being developed that would entail every MNA, MPA, ticket-holder and office-bearer being assigned their duties.

According to Sheikh Waqqas, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur will lead the party’s workers from the province to Islamabad while Punjab leadership will lead their contingents.

He also said that none of the members of the national and provincial assemblies who were leading the protests would be allowed to leave the public, a reference to one of the major gripes voiced by the supporters following the previous round of demonstrations, which saw leaders like CM Gandapur leaving their followers high and dry while he retired to the safety of KP House.

When asked about the possibility of the government rounding up the protesters before they could reach their destination, Aleema Khan asked whether the rulers would “imprison the entire opposition”.

“How will the government be able to show its face to the outside world if the whole opposition is put behind bars,” she asked, indicating that the party is counting on sheer numbers to overwhelm any official machinery that is deployed to block their path.

In addition, although the party’s overseas chapters have launched fund-raising drives to fund a final push to secure Imran Khan’s freedom, it appears that locally, their coffers are at a level where it is not feasible to sustain an elongated protest movement.

When asked about this, Mr Basra said that lawmakers and office-bearers had been instructed to fund their leg of the protest by raising funds at the constituency level.

But even Imran Khan realises that just mobilising his party workers may not yield the numbers he is expecting on the 24th.

Perhaps that is why he and his party are making an impassioned appeal to the youth to join his party’s rally.

Speaking to reporters in Adiala jail on Thursday, Mr Khan said the purpose of their protest was upholding the rule of law and fighting for the preservation of democracy, which is currently under threat.

Sheikh Waqqas also addressed a wider audience during his presser in Peshawar, saying that students, youth, women, labourers, lawyers and the general public should all join this protest to protect their rights and uphold the Constitution.

The one thing that party leaders are sure would be able to mobilise people is the fact that this call comes directly from Imran Khan. PTI Punjab leader Hammad Azhar, in a late-evening tweet, proclaimed that he would proudly lead supporters from Punjab to reach Islamabad on Nov 24.

“My leader is facing illegitimate incarceration and my beloved country is in the clutches of unelected and fascist rulers,” he wrote on X.

Malik Asad in Islamabad and Manzoor Ali in Peshawar also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024