SWABI: In a show of defiance against the coalition government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced on Monday that his party would hold its next public gathering in Islamabad in the coming days, regardless of any obstacles.
"No one can stop us from staging a rally," Gandapur declared while addressing a PTI gathering in Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, held to mark the one-year imprisonment of party founder Imran Khan. The event also featured speeches from PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and other senior leaders.
"As the chief minister, I’m announcing the next power show in Islamabad," Gandapur stated, adding that the embattled party would hold the event either by the end of this month or the next.
Addressing the federal capital's authorities, he said the former ruling party would accept any venue for organizing a power show in Islamabad. However, he warned that they would stage a sit-in at D-Chowk if the federal administration did not grant a non-objection certificate for the rally.
Criticizing the arrests of the former premier and other party leaders, Gandapur asserted that the party's ideology could not be eliminated or silenced.
The day before his announcement, Gandapur had vowed to leave politics if he failed to organize a public gathering in Islamabad, following a meeting with the party founder in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
This statement came after Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned for a year, recently offered to initiate “talks with the military” and requested the institution to nominate representatives for negotiations.
The 71-year-old PTI founding chairman has been incarcerated for various cases, including the Toshakhana, cipher, and un-Islamic marriage cases. His wife, Bushra, has also been imprisoned for months.
Although a court suspended his sentence in the Toshakhana case and other courts overturned his convictions in the cipher and Iddat cases, hopes for Imran and Bushra's release in July were dashed when NAB arrested them on new charges related to the sale of state gifts.
Imran's chances of release further diminished after he was arrested in new cases linked to the May 9, 2023, riots, following his acquittal in the iddat case.
