By Iqbal Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Sunday warned the rulers of a historic youth march on Islamabad if they did not honour the Supreme Court judgment. Convicted Gilani, he charged, should be ashamed of his government's performance.
?The time is approaching when I will give a call to the youth of Pakistan to march on Islamabad in case the corrupt rulers flouted the judiciary?s verdict,ī Imran said while speaking at a pro-judiciary rally here. The attendance was estimated to be around 10,000. Majority of the crowd comprised cheering youth, waving the party flags.
A stage was made on a container near the D-Chowk. Those sitting on the stage included Javed Hashmi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ishaq Khaqwani, Jehangir Tareen, Zahid Kazmi and Fauzia Kasuri, while Khalid Kharal and Israr Shah were also spotted at the venue.
In a rare attack on parliament, Imran Khan asked why it had adopted resolutions in support of a convicted prime minister, who was trying to protect Rs5,000 million theft of Asif Ali Zardari. ?Shame on the parliamentarians who supported the resolution. Allies are backing the PPP as they also want to skip accountability,ī he said.Two kids continued to take a round of the rally, carrying two placards that read, ?Shame on you, you corrupt and convicted Prime Ministerī. A group of PTI activists had badges on their chests inscribed with: ?Haan men Tsunami hoon (Yes, I am Tsunami)ī.
Imran urged Chief Justice Iftihar Muhammad Chaudhry not to worry, as the corrupt rulers were weak, timid and could not halt the tsunami with small rented crowds.Referring to the PML-N?s public meeting in Taxila on Saturday, he contended that holding small meetings, comprising Patwaris, would not do. He continued, ?If Nawaz is serious, he should quit the assemblies, as holding of elections in the Punjab, that is 60 percent of Pakistan?s total population, will mean going for the general election. But paper tigers can?t do this. If you want to become a prime minister, then hold public meetings in Quetta and Karachi and become a real tiger.ī
He said the time of the incumbent assembly was up, adding a new Pakistan was in the making, where the judiciary would be independent and free. ?If this vital institution was allowed to be destroyed, it would mean destroying Pakistan?s democracy and even its future,ī he said.
Imran said the parties of the status quo would never let the judiciary function with independence, as this would impede their cruelty and injustice.He asked why the rulers with the support of corrupt partners were targeting the judiciary and then himself replied because they wanted to subjugate the Supreme Court to go away without accountability. ?If the money stashed in Swiss banks is not looted, then why Gilani refused to write to the Swiss authorities. I ask the convicted prime minister why he had defied the court order,ī he asked.
The PTI chief said the pro-judiciary rally was a trailer of the party?s tsunami march in Liaquat Bagh on May 27. ?We will not let them destroy the Supreme Court,ī he asserted.Imran said that the component parties of All Parties Democratic Movement, who had not taken part in the general election, would be contacted soon for invitation to be a part of the movement against the corrupt rulers.
Earlier, in his speech, the party?s president Javed Hashmi said he was alone when he had declared himself a rebel against the status quo and today the entire Pakistan was rebelling against the corrupt and rotten political system.
He recalled having dubbed in his book Islamabad as a city of the dead but pointed out today he was seeing it alive. Hashmi also recalled he was present when talks were on between two ?big politiciansī who wanted to hang the judges for refusing to grant them bail.
Hashmi claimed both the rulers sitting in Islamabad and Punjab were opposed to the independence of judiciary, as this would be a hurdle in their way of loot and plunder.Vice-chairman of PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi alleged the Yazeed of present era was silent on the drone attacks, whereas there was no prime minister after the Gilani?s conviction.
?Now people have to decide with whom they will align, as there is a coterie of the corrupt and cruel on the one side while on the other side are those who want to give Pakistan a new look, a look of independence and self-pride with a completely free judiciary,ī he said.
