Imran wants immediate resignation of Zardari
LAHORE, Jan 15: Coming up with his own seven-point agenda, having the immediate resignation of President Asif Ali Zardari on top of the list, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan has threatened to bring his activists to the street if his demands are not met.
Presenting the seven-point charter of demands at a press conference here on Tuesday, he said President Zardari should immediately resign as elections under him could not be free and fair. He warned of organising the biggest protest demonstration in the country’s history if elections were rigged.
Accompanied by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Javed Hashmi, Jehangir Tareen and Shafqat Mahmood, the PTI chief said the polls schedule should be announced immediately under a ‘unanimous’ caretaker set-up and there should be no excuse to delay the elections.
He said an interim government formed through a ‘compromise’ between the PPP and PML-N without consulting other political stakeholders would not be accepted.
Like Dr Tahirul Qadri, the PTI chief demanded revamping of the Election Commission of Pakistan, saying the present body had failed to check pre-poll rigging by both the federal and Punjab governments in the recently-held by-elections. “We’ve trust in the chief election commissioner, but we are not satisfied with other members of the ECP.”
Mr Khan warned of bloodshed if the elections were not held in a fair and transparent manner.
“Both the parties (PPP and PML-N) are buying votes with the public money through schemes like Benazir Income Support Programme and free distribution of laptops. We provided all evidence to the ECP, but it did nothing,” he regretted.
He sought immediate arrest of the terrorists involved in the Quetta carnage. He also demanded action against ‘Raja Rental’, a reference to Prime Minister Ashraf.
He warned that PTI activists would take to the street if any order of the Supreme Court was violated.
Mr Khan said the party leadership was closely watching the situation and asked his workers to wait for his call which could be given anytime.
He said had Dr Qadri consulted the PTI before launching the long march, they would, perhaps, have been together in the protest.