Thousands of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) supporters, led by Imran Khan and accompanied by other party leaders, have gathered at Parade Ground in the federal capital to ‘celebrate victory’, following the Supreme Court hearing of Panamagate petitions.
The first thing that Imran Khan does after coming at the podium is trying to address the discipline issues at the rally. He is asking people to sit down on the stage before he moves on with his speech.
The PTI chief thanks party’s lawmakers from KP for their bravery. He hails Pervez Khattak as the hero of Pakistan.
Imran starts his speech by saying that he waits for the day when Nawaz and his brother are put behind bars.
He asked the prime minister if he was not ashamed when the women workers of PTI were manhandled.
“Nawaz has been inaugurating one road after another since the Panama leaks came to the forefront.â€
Imran also targetted his political opponents and hurled allegations at them.
“Fazal ur Rehman, in past you were making money from diesel permit, now you taking money from Nawaz Sharif,” says Imran to the massive gathering.
“Asif Zardari and Khursheed Shah are afraid of accountability as they are predicting its PPP term in the next elections.”
“This is not a solo flight and I am not going solo in this fight against corruption. I have millions of Pakistanis with me,” Imran replies to the earlier criticism he received from the ruling party.
He adds that there were no weapons amongst PTI workers, the only weapon present was “Shiekh Rasheed’s cigar”.
Imran reiterates that it is the people’s right under a democracy to stage a protest against corruption.
The PTI chief also hails the Supreme Court’s verdict.
He questions the effectivnees of national institutions including NAB. “Supreme Court asked NAB officials why they didnt work on accountability of Nawaz Sharif.”
Imran also referred to the “Charter of Democracy” as an instrument of compromise and corruption. He alleges the charter has been used by both Nawaz and Zardari to indulge in wholesale corruption.
Earlier in the evening, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the party “only wanted to shut the practice of corruptionâ€.
“They said we were coming to close Islamabad, but we don’t want to do so since it is not our manner of doing politics,” said Qureshi.
“If Imran Khan orders, we can close the federal capital tonight, but we will not do so.”
Qureshi also paid tribute to the arrested workers of PTI.
“We also salute our brothers and sisters who set off from Khyber Pakhtunkwa,” said Qureshi.
“I wish we had more days, they would have understood what we are made of,” said KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. “PTI had teams ready to continue the struggle.â€
“They tried to use our Pashtun brothers against us, by having FC troops deployed to stop us,” added Khattak.
“I wish for the day you [Shahbaz Sharif] will be fired upon then I will ask you how it feels.â€
Khattak said he does not care about his ‘chair’, as he has been a political prisoner and he “would have thrown out his ‘chair’ if Imran asked too”.
“I will resign from my post whenever Imran Khan asks me to.”
Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed, while addressing the gathering, expressed hope that “this Supreme Court of Pakistan will save the country from disaster”.
The AML chief also referred to the prime minister as a friend of Modi. “Nawaz Sharif wants to transform Pakistan Army into Punjab police,” alleged the veteran politician.
Rasheed was of the veiw that “China saved Pakistan from being labelled as a rogue state”.