Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Patron-in-Chief Imran Khan on Tuesday issued yet another call for a protest movement—this time after the upcoming Ashura commemoration.
In May, the incarcerated former prime minister had issued a similar call for a protest movement after Eidul Azha. More than a month after the Eid, this movement has yet to materialize, with little apparent interest from party leaders to take it forward.
Speaking with media after his weekly meeting with family, Khan’s sister Aleema said she was once again denied a meeting with him, but their other sisters Noreen and Uzma were granted an audience. She said Khan had given a “detailed’ plan for a movement after Muharram 10, adding PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had been entrusted with conveying the strategy to the party leadership.
During her press talk, she reiterated claims of attempts to “minus” Khan from the party to sideline him from the country’s politics. She said Khan had warned of growing authoritarianism, alleging the country was headed toward martial law. “If votes are stolen and their value is denied, if the judiciary is turned into a government department and judges are humiliated, then the rule of law no longer exists,” she quoted him as saying.
Khan reportedly also told his sisters a potential 27th constitutional amendment would merely serve to formalize a “monarchy.” She said he had claimed that lifelong imprisonment was preferable to “slavery.” He also praised the party’s MPAs in the Punjab Assembly and urged them to establish a symbolic assembly outside Parliament if their suspension persisted.
According to Aleema, Khan had said he was being kept in isolation and denied his legal or constitutional rights. She further claimed Khan appeared thinner than usual, which he attributed to being unable to exercise.
Political dialogue
Meanwhile, incarcerated senior leaders of the PTI in Punjab have issued a joint letter addressed to the party leadership. In the letter, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Ejaz Chaudhry and Omar Sarfraz Cheema have urged the party to resume political dialogue to end the ongoing “instability” in the country.
Stressing that negotiations are the only way out of the political crisis, they said discussions should also be held with “powerful quarters.” However, they said, talks with politicians should not be limited to one-off events, but rather be sustained and long-term.
They also advised the government to allow easier access to Khan to help form a negotiation committee and suggested including them in the dialogue process to facilitate a resolution.
All five of the signatories are currently behind bars over their alleged role in the May 9, 2023 riots.