Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has postponed its October 4 sit-in scheduled to be held at Islamabad’s D-Chowk, party’s central organising committee told media on Tuesday.The announcement came after local administration on Wednesday reminded the PTI that gatherings and processions in the Red Zone are prohibited and further said that the party will now hold the rally in Lahore on October 9. The party leadership said it will decide about holding the sit-in in the capital after October 11 by-polls.PTI chairman Imran Khan announced back in August to hold a sit-in in front of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Islamabad if its members do not tender their resignations by October 4.Imran Khan had maintained that there was no justification for the ECP members to hold their posts after 21 political parties had claimed that rigging took place during the 2013 elections. Instead of wasting its energies in Islamabad while it faces crucial bye-elections in NA-122, it has decided to concentrate on the constituency by holding a public rally in Lahore on September 9 on the eve of the polls. After the bye-elections are over on September 11, the PTI would announce a new date for the Islamabad protest.The decision by the Supreme Court to stay the by-polls in NA-154 was based on the interpretation of law. Painful as it was for the PTI, Imran Khan has decided to bite the bullet. Eyes would be, meanwhile, riveted on NA-122 where the PTI has already started a full-fledged campaign. The PML-N would be at a disadvantage as practically all of its high profile leaders stand debarred from canvassing on account of holding government offices while Imran Khan and a number of other party leaders from Punjab would be free to address the gatherings. That a number of prominent members of other parties have recently joined the PTI should encourage the party to strengthen the system. To ensure that the next elections are fair, it should put up concrete proposals before the election reforms committee. Imran Khan needs to realise that democracy is incompatible with the type of unruly and violent agitation that characterised the August 2014 sit-ins and marches.
pk.shafaqna.com
