Over the six-day ultimatum of Imran Khan to Pakistan govt for calling elections and dissolving legislatures, the PTI party supporters have been left in distress.
Over the six-day ultimatum of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan to Shehbaz Sharif’s administration for calling elections and dissolving legislatures, the PTI party supporters have been left in distress. Amid the political turmoil in Pakistan, they have described the ultimatum as an unexpected and terrible idea.
According to an ANI report, PTI leaders questioned why the people would come out six days later if they had not come out two days before. PTI leaders said, “Even if they were to somehow make arrangements, where would they get the people from to stage a dharna (protest) long enough to get the government to resign?”
These remarks arose after former Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed displeasure with his party leaders for failing to call people to join his protest march despite the fact that he was confident that a massive crowd would show up and that neither the police nor the administration would be able to prevent them from reaching Islamabad.
On May 25, Imran Khan conducted a long protest march against the current administration, calling for the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of a new general election, and inviting a huge crowd to join him. On that day, police fought PTI marches in Islamabad when Imran Khan and his party arrived in the city and began marching towards the D-Chowk, defying the Supreme Court’s order to hold a protest between the H9 and G9 sectors of the city.
Imran expressed dissatisfaction with his party
In spite of a massive crowd assembling at Imran’s political event in Lahore only days before the protest march, the city witnessed a limited turnout for it, according to Geo News. While Imran expressed dissatisfaction with his party, PTI officials blamed the march’s failure on a gap between the statement and the reality surrounding Imran’s long march. They criticised Imran Khan’s choice and claimed they were not given enough time to prepare, ANI reported.
The PTI leaders also stated that they urged Imran Khan to prolong the march’s dates by a few days, according to Geo News, however, the PTI chairman was worried that if the date was postponed, the government would be able to create measures to halt the march.
They also highlighted to Imran that while an active PTI follower will attend the event gladly, it is difficult to assemble other people, since the PTI does not have supporters outside of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who would face tear gas and extreme heat in order to reach Islamabad.
Furthermore, apart from the followers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI lacks enough sympathisers elsewhere to endure police, tear gas, or excessive heat in order to reach the federal capital, resulting in minimal participation, according to Geo News.