PTI to Delay October 15 Protest if Meeting with Imran Khan Granted: Report
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reportedly decided to postpone its protest scheduled for October 15, contingent upon a meeting with former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
During a meeting of the PTI core committee chaired by Barrister Salman Akram Raja, it was resolved that if a meeting with Imran Khan is arranged by October 14, the protest will be postponed, according to sources cited by Express News. If a meeting with doctors, lawyers, or any party leader is facilitated, the protest will also be postponed.
Sources indicated that if the meeting is not arranged, a strong protest will occur on October 15. During the meeting, some party members suggested postponing the protest due to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, while others, including Shahbaz Gill and Khalid Khurshid, opposed the idea. The party leadership and senior leaders supported the proposal to postpone the protest.
Members stated that the ban on meetings with Imran Khan, the founder of PTI, is a ‘calculated conspiracy’ by the government. The federal government vowed on Saturday to deploy its “full force” to prevent the PTI from staging a protest coinciding with the high-profile SCO summit on October 15.
Preparations were underway to welcome around 900 delegates, with the ruling coalition mobilizing over 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel to ensure security. Ministers from the coalition have aggressively criticized the PTI, accusing it of attempting to disrupt the summit and even urging the courts to intervene.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the PTI’s protest plans at D-Chowk as “political terrorism,” asserting that the party was endangering the country’s economic recovery. He reminded that PTI protests in 2014 had delayed the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan and warned that the country could not afford to engage in destructive politics. “Just because PTI’s leader is jailed doesn’t justify chaos,” he said.
He further highlighted that hosting the SCO summit on October 15-16 is a proud diplomatic achievement for Pakistan. Earlier, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the PTI for fostering chaos as the opposition party declared its intent to hold a “forceful” protest on the first day of the SCO summit.
