LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday postponed the party’s public meeting scheduled for May 8 in Faisalabad after seeing a footage of the brutal incident of harassing its women supporters after the conclusion of May 1 event on The Mall.

The PTI central media cell said Mr Khan was deeply disturbed over the incident and quoted him as saying: “I have lost trust in Punjab police because they failed to protect the PTI women, especially since the suspected attackers appear to be goons let loose by the PML-N.”

Mr Khan stated that during his party’s 126-day sit-in in Islamabad all the families and women remained safe and no untoward incident ever took place. On various occasions, he said, the women and families had outnumbered the men. He said women had been an integral part of the PTI rallies and public gatherings, including the one in Mianwali where women came out for the first time for a political meeting. He said the PTI had never faced a concerted attack on its women workers and supporters.

“Clearly, the recent pre-planned attacks are a conspiracy to undermine the central role of women in PTI,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, the PTI chairman has ordered an inquiry into the incident and directed the party to complete investigations within a week. He has said if anyone in the PTI was found involved at any level, a strict action would be taken and cases registered against the culprits.

Will hold two public meetings in KP

Imran Khan has also directed the party to examine the questionable role of the Punjab police. Until the completion of the inquiry, Mr Khan said the PTI would hold two public gatherings as a part of its movement against corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the party had full faith in the police.

Mr Khan announced the first public meeting would be held in Peshawar on May 9 (Monday) and the second in Bannu on May 11 (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, PTI Faisalabad public meeting organiser Ejaz Chaudhry told Dawn that the party had postponed the event because of the harassment of women in Lahore public meeting on May 1.

Stating that two FIRs had been registered with regard to the incident; one each by the party and police, Mr Chaudhry demanded the police and the administration should thoroughly investigate the matter and apprehend culprits within two weeks.

“If the police fail to arrest the culprits, it will be considered that the PML-N itself was involved in sabotaging the party’s public meetings both in Islamabad and Lahore,” he asserted.

Mr Chaudhry challenged the PML-N to do a public meeting at Minar-i-Pakistan ground, which was filled by the PTI twice but the PML-N never dared to do so.

Answering a question, he brushed aside the reports that Faisalabad event was postponed because of some intra-party rift.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016