ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf made it clear on Saturday that time for talks with the government to find a common ground on its demands for electoral reforms and audit of election results was over. The party said it would go ahead with its march slated for Aug 14 with “full force”.

At the same time the PTI core committee also warned the government against invoking Article 245, arguing that using the army for political purposes was dangerous and if the decision was not reversed, the party reserved the right to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

“Now the time for such approaches is over. The core committee concluded that now the decisions will be made after the arrival of the Azadi March in Islamabad on Aug 14,” the PTI declared after a meeting, presided over by Imran Khan.

Talking to Dawn, a member of the PTI core committee said till now a few people in the party were in favour of talks with the government, instead of going ahead with the long march, if it was willing to accept PTI’s demands on recount of votes and electoral reforms. “However, the entire party leadership decided unanimously on Saturday to use all its resources to make the Azadi March a success,” said the PTI leader, who is also a member of the National Assembly.

Government warned against using army for political purposes

Unanimity in the party was also reflected in its press statement which said that the “entire PTI leadership is on one page and is committed to going all the way to achieve its goal, including resignation from the assemblies, if required”.

The PTI lawmaker insisted that Imran Khan’s struggle for election reforms would remain within the ambit of the constitution. He dismissed a perception as baseless that the PTI would use the long march to depose the government. “All our demands will remain within the Constitution.”

A statement released to media said: “We have spent over a year seeking justice through election tribunals and the courts, including the Supreme Court, with no response. We sought to work through parliament also, but the committee formed to examine electoral rigging was dismantled by the PML-N after two meetings.

“We also sought the constitution of a judicial committee to examine four constituencies through voter verification within a period of two weeks, but again there was a stony silence.”

It recalled the party’s earlier efforts to get its claim on incidence of election rigging verified. In the meeting party leaders also decided to seek support of “like-minded parties” for a democratic and constitutional agenda which the PTI aimed to achieve through its Azadi March.

ARTICLE 245: The core committee also discussed the government’s decision to invoke Article 245 for security of Islamabad and decided that “it will not, under any circumstances, accept the invoking of Article 245 for calling in the army in support of the federal government in Islamabad”.

PTI asked to shun march and serve people

Explaining the reason why his party believes that the government was targeting the long march by invoking Article 245, the PTI leader said: “What’s this Protection of Pakistan Act for. Under the new act, which has only been enacted to deal with a possible blowback of the military operation in North Waziristan, civil armed forces [police and Rangers] have all the powers to deal with the extra-ordinary law and order situation.”

The interior minister had said on Friday that the government had invoked Article 245 as a special security measure for the capital in view of intelligence reports that militants intended to carry out terror acts in retaliation for the operation in North Waziristan.

The government is seeking to place the PTI’s Azadi March in direct confrontation with the army, which is a dangerous tactic and also a futile exercise because the party has always had a culture of peaceful protests and marches, the PTI reminded the government.

The PTI leaders criticised the ruling party for what they termed its “unethical and unacceptable decision to drag the army into what is clearly a democratic political protest march”.

The PTI statement also underlined that the army was a national institution and not a tool for the PML-N to use it against its political opponents.

“While the nation is very clear that the government has failed on all fronts, for the ruling party itself to concede its failure to protect the capital and its citizens and sensitive installations, is a direct admission of its failure. It is also a clear sign that the PML-N government is in desperation, trying to hide its rigging in May 2013 elections and PTI’s expose of the same, by seeking to use Article 245,” the statement said.

Responding to reports that the government was considering going back on its decision of calling in the army, the PTI said if the government had reversed invoking of Article 245, it would be a good decision “because democratic governments do not resort to such measures as it effectively signals an admission of its failure to govern and maintain law and order”.

The PTI said if the government did not reverse the decision, it would be challenged in the Supreme Court as soon as possible. It reminded the ruling party of its own long marches which it carried out just before the Swat operation in 2009 and claimed that it was its democratic right. No Article 245 was invoked at that time, it said.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2014