Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration over a refusal by district authorities in Islamabad to allow Imran Khan’s chopper to land at a location near the venue of his rally in Rawalpindi on Saturday, November 26.
Khan, the PTI chief, is set to make his first public appearance in over three weeks at the Rawalpindi event following sustaining a bullet injury to his leg in an alleged assassination attempt on November 3.
The attack against Khan, a cricketer-turned-politician, occurred as his “long march” to Islamabad, which commenced in the last week of October, was passing through the town of Wazirabad town in Punjab province.
The key demand of Khan and thousands of his supporters in the long march to Islamabad is to hold a snap federal election, which the Sharif government has already rejected.
Asad Umar, the PTI’s general secretary, told reporters in Islamabad on Friday that the federal Interior Ministry had sent him a letter highlighting that Khan faced a threat to his life from terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda*, Daesh*, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)*.
“But, on the other hand, they are denying permission to Khan’s chopper to land at the Parade Ground (near the venue of the Rawalpindi rally), which will force him to take a longer route and endanger his life,” stated Umar.
The refusal by the Islamabad district administration to allow Khan’s helicopter to land on Thursday came after the Pakistani Army’s Rawalpindi-based General Headquarters (GHQ) reportedly stated that it had no objection to the landing.
The federal government this week also extended its order imposing restrictions on public gatherings in the federal capital for another two months.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters are expected to march from the Rawalpindi rally venue to Islamabad in the coming days to press their demand for an election.
In April, Khan was removed in a no-confidence motion introduced in the National Assembly (NA) by then-leader of opposition Shehbaz Sharif.
The cricket world cup-winning captain has accused the US of orchestrating his ouster over Washington’s displeasure with Islamabad’s “independent foreign policy” under the previous PTI government.
*Terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other states