PTI Long March to resume from Thursday

LAHORE: For the third time, the PTI on Monday announced it would continue its long march towards Islamabad on Thursday from Wazirabad, the spot where Imran Khan survived the gun attack four days ago.

After a failed attempt on his life and subsequent hospitalization, Imran announced that PTI would return to the streets on Tuesday to resume its long march.

However, in an abrupt change made earlier on Monday, Imran announced that the march dubbed as the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi March’ will resume on Wednesday. Hours after his announcement, PTI leader Faisal Javed in a tweet announced that the party’s long march will begin on Thursday at 2pm.

PTI’s Secretary-General Asad Umar said he will participate in the long march with the party’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other colleagues in Wazirabad on Thursday.

“Shah Sahab [Qureshi] will lead the long march on GT Road and I will lead the march from Faisalabad Division,” he said in a tweet.

PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur will lead the caravan from the southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa while K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Murad Saeed will lead the protesters from the Malakand region.

Senior PTI leader Pervez Khattak will lead the protest rally from Peshawar and Hazara divisions, he added.

Meanwhile, talking to a delegation of journalists earlier on Monday, PTI chief Imran Khan reiterated that the party would back down only after getting the date for general elections.

He maintained that no compromise can be made with coalition rulers, including PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

“The entire nation is prepared, and we will only return with the election date,” he said, adding that his long march would achieve its aim under ‘any circumstances’.