PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday vowed to proceed with its September 27 long march on Islamabad “under all circumstances”, while directing workers not to carry sticks, slingshots or any weapons.
Speaking to Geo News, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Secretary Shaukat Yousafzai said a party meeting had been held to finalise the strategy for the long march, with participants agreeing to proceed as planned.
“We will go to Islamabad — wherever we are stopped, we will sit and protest there,” he said, adding that workers had been instructed to remain peaceful throughout.
Yousafzai warned that anyone found carrying sticks, slingshots or weapons would have no connection with the party.
The PTI has announced the protest while demanding the release of its founder Imran Khan and what it describes as the restoration of constitutional supremacy.
PTI central spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram also confirmed that an online meeting had been held to discuss preparations for the September 27 protest.
He said no participant in the meeting had proposed postponing the march.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said net launchers should not be used against political protesters and called for their grievances to be addressed through dialogue.
He said the timing was not appropriate for using net launchers against participants of the long march and stressed the need for serious talks as the protest approached.
Gohar said the party’s programme had already been announced and there would be no change in it.
He also reaffirmed PTI founder Imran Khan’s confidence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, saying Afridi would continue as chief minister with the support of party members.
Gohar separately met Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas to discuss preparations and strategy for the long march.
Addressing a law and order meeting in Peshawar, CM Sohail Afridi said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and people had been fighting terrorism for 22 years, adding that their sacrifices had contributed to peace in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other areas between 2018 and 2022.
He said his government had provided additional funding to the police, including Rs35 billion beyond the annual budget last year, while the police budget had been increased from Rs80 billion to Rs190 billion this year.
Afridi said modern armoured personnel carriers prepared for deployment in Islamabad had been handed over, while the KP police itself had not received modern APCs.
The chief minister said that since assuming office, he had never issued any police officer an unlawful or politically motivated order, ordered personal revenge or directed the registration of a false FIR.
Dismissing concerns over the nature of the march, Afridi said PTI was planning a peaceful protest and not an armed struggle or attack.
He warned that if federal institutions used police for political revenge, the provincial government would take its own measures.
“As long as the right to assembly exists in the Constitution, we will protest,” he said, challenging those seeking to stop the protest to first remove the constitutional right to assembly.
