PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) would engage with dialogue with powers that be about its demands only after its incarcerated founder and former prime minister, Imran Khan, was freed.

“We [PTI] will not rest until our leader [Imran Khan] is out of jail,” Mr Gandapur said in a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here.

He said it was time to materialise the PTI’s slogan of “if not now, then when?” for Imran’s release.

The chief minister said if the PTI founder didn’t come out of jail now, then that would never happen.

PTI leaders hail bail for ex-PM in Toshakhana case, hope for relief in other cases as well

He said Imran was fighting for the rights of next generations and won’t disappoint them.

Mr Gandapur said the people had to choose between accepting the system of oppression and fighting for justice.

BAIL FOR PTI CHIEF HAILED: PTI central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram on Wednesday welcomed the Islamabad High Court’s decision of granting bail to Mr Imran in a Toshakhana case and said the “concocted case was based on lies.”

He told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club that the claims that the bail was granted to Imran Khan under a deal were false and part of propaganda against the PTI and its leader.

He said the Toshakhana case lacked substance and was dragged unreasonably.

“We expected this relief [bail] from the judiciary,” he said, hoping that the same will also happen in other cases registered against the former prime minister.

The PTI leader said he was confident about the early release of Imran, which would ensure political stability in the country.

He urged the government not to create hurdles to the PTI’s Nov 24 protest in Islamabad and warned such steps would “worsen the situation.”

Mr Akram insisted that when the judges gave verdicts “on merit,” they were threatened and faced hardships.

He said that the PTI’s struggle was not limited to the release of Imran Khan but it was meant for the rule of the Constitution and law and protection of human rights.

Provincial higher education minister Meena Khan Afridi said the federal government’s “fascism” had impacted the people from all walks of life.

“No one in Pakistan is living a normal life,” he said.

The minister said the PTI was mobilising public support for Islamabad protest.

Special assistant to the chief minister on communication and works Sohail Afridi said that around 50,000 youth from across the province had registered themselves with the party for participation in the Nov 24 protest in Islamabad.

He urged youth to ignore the “propaganda” against the Islamabad protest and said preparations for the march were in full swing.

Insaf Students Federation president Ashfaq Marwat said that thousands of students from the province were ready to go to the federal capital to demand the release of PTI chief Imran Khan from prison.

He said that students had always played a pivotal role in all movements for people’s rights and supremacy of the Constitution.

Business leader Ghulam Bilal Javed, Insaf Doctor Forum president Dr Nabi Afridi and representative of lawyers Ali Zaman said that the members of their communities would participate in the Islamabad protest in large numbers.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024