Imran to be advised by top PTI leaders to call off Nov 24 protest

ISLAMABAD, NOV 14 (DNA): Several top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are unhappy with the announcement of the date — November 24 — for the protest to Islamabad by the jailed founding chairman of the party, Imran Khan.

As the announcement was made public by Khan’s sister Aleema Khan and his lawyer after their meeting with the former in Adiala Jail, senior leaders of the party made contact with one another.

In their discussions, they were not happy with the announcement by Khan.

Informed party sources said that they discussed the matter and considered the option of still raising the issue again with Khan in the next few days and persuading the PTI founder chairman to call it off.

“We will make another effort,” a senior party leader on condition of not being named said, adding: “Khan will be advised to call off the protest.”

The News has the names of those senior PTI leaders who are unhappy with Khan’s decision to do-or-die protest on November 24 but the party sources told this correspondent if their names are published, they would be abused and trolled by the PTI social media.

These leaders are not the ordinary ones but quite important. Some of them speak quite harshly in public but in their internal interactions, they are among the saner voices in the PTI, which has become hostage to the pressures of its social media.

Khan, a source said, needs better advice. Not only November 24 is too early for such a protest and sit-in which besides security issues involves the challenges of logistics.

How would the protesters taking part in a sit-in at D-Chowk, even if they are 1000 in number, be provided with food? What would be the arrangement of washrooms? These logistic issues become a huge challenge when security personnel don’t even let you enter the D-Chowk.

The source said that Khan needs to know that such a protest will not only risk Bushra Bibi’s re-arrest but it would also prolong his stay in jail. Khan already got relief in several cases from the courts. As things go, even if he is convicted in the 190m Pound case, he could get relief from the high court in a few months’ time.

“It’s the last case against Khan and Bushra Bibi and despite our complaints from the judiciary, courts have been giving us relief,” said the source.

One of the leaders while talking to The News lamented that had Imran Khan been contacted by the Establishment, there would not have been such a protest.

Khan announced a protest march to Islamabad on November 24, his lawyer and sister said on Wednesday. “Imran Khan says this is the final call for a [anti-government] protest. The PTI founder has stressed that the party’s entire leadership will be part of the march,” lawyer Faisal Chaudhry told reporters in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.

The protest will not only take place in Islamabad, but throughout Pakistan and across the world where Khan’s supporters are present, Chaudhry said. The lawyer said that the party founder had also formed a committee for the march and asked not to reveal the names of those who are part of it as Imran fears they’ll be arrested.

The News already reported on Wednesday that PTI’s founder chairman wants a date for a do-or-die ultimate protest and possible sit-in in Islamabad but he was being persuaded by his party’s senior leaders that it may backfire if such a protest was announced without proper planning and considering all pros and cons.