Pakistan: ‘Revolution’ knocking at Capital gates!

Thousands of protesters led by cricketer-turned- politician Imran Khan and preacher Allama Dr Tahirul Qadri are likely to enter Islamabad today (Friday), aiming to bring down the government they accuse of stealing last year’s election and for being involved in corrupt and undemocratic practices.

The looming confrontation has renewed the political role of the military, casting some doubt on the strength of democratic institutions in a nuclear-armed nation that has seen several coups and has been ruled by the army for half its history.

Khan’s ‘Azadi’ March began on Thursday evening from Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab and the power base for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The march is being carried out in cars and buses.

Khan’s following was bolstered by Qadri, who is leading thousands of followers in a separate such march, named Inqilab March on the road from Lahore to Islamabad.

Leaderships of both the parties have assured the government that the protests will be peaceful.

The 185-mile journey normally takes about five hours by vehicle, but with the demonstrators inching along, they aren’t likely to reach the capital before Friday morning.

‘NOTHING BUT PM’S RESIGNATION:

“You have to fight for freedom, you have to snatch freedom,” Khan, the chief of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), told a massive gathering of his supporters as his rally made an hour-long stop at Faisal Chowk, in front of the Punjab Provincial Assembly.

“Mian Sahib, I’m coming to Islamabad and I won’t be leaving until you step down from office,” Khan said, addressing Prime Minister Sharif.

The PTI chief told his charged supporters that he won’t settle for anything less than the PM’s resignation, installation of an interim non-political government to hold fresh elections in the country, and dissolution of the incumbent Election Commission of Pakistan.

Khan said that he was setting out to throw Sharif out of power “to pave the way for true democracy as the current system was nothing less than a monarchy”.

The PTI chief told his supporters from Sindh and Balochistan that he had hadn’t been able to make frequent visits their provinces because he was “busy fighting a battle in Punjab”. However, he assured them that he would be spending more time with them “after coming into power once his party sweeps elections across the country”. The PTI chief also said that his children and relatives won’t be imposed on the people. “I’ve won several fetes for Pakistani cricket and now I’m going to lead this nation to a historic victory over a corrupt system,” he said.

QADRI RESOLVED TO REACH CAPITAL:

Meanwhile, talking to a private news channel, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said that his followers will march to Islamabad without creating any law and order situation. “Our demands are clear and the participants of my Inqilab March will not return until the fall of the Sharif govt,” Qadri said from his bullet-proof SUV.