PTI to stage rally in Islamabad come what may, vows CM Gandapur

Challenging the coalition government in Swabi power show, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced on Monday that his party was going to hold its next public gathering in Islamabad in the coming days come what may.

"No one can stop us from [staging a rally]," said Gandapur while addressing the PTI public gathering in KP's Swabi held to mark the one-year imprisonment of the party founder Imran Khan.

The power show was also addressed by the party’s Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and other senior leaders.

"I'm announcing the next power show in Islamabad as the chief minister," he said adding that the embattled part would stage a power show by the end of the this month or next month.

Addressing the federal capital's authorities, he said the former ruling party would accept any venue for organising a power show in Islamabad. 

However, he warned that they would stage a sit-in at D-Chowk if the party was not granted a non-objection certificate for holding a rally by the federal capital's administration.

While slamming the arrests of the former premier and other party leaders, the politico said that ideology would neither be eliminated nor ceased.

Prior to his announcement, the PTI firebrand politician said in a statement a day ago after meeting the party founder in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail that he would rather leave politics if he failed to announce and hold a public gathering in Islamabad.

His statement came after Khan, who has been imprisoned for a year now, offered to initiate “talks with the military” three days ago and asked the institution to nominate its representatives for negotiations.

The 71-year-old PTI founding chairman has been in prison for a year after he was booked in a plethora of cases, including the Toshakhana, cipher, and the un-Islamic marriage. His wife, Bushra, has also been behind bars for months.

However, a court suspended his sentence in the Toshakhana case, while other courts overturned his convictions in the cipher and iddat cases, respectively.

While there were hopes for Imran and Bushra's release in July, they were dashed when NAB arrested them on fresh charges related to the sale of state gifts.

The chances of Imran's release from jail further dimmed after he was arrested in new cases linked to the May 9, 2023, riots, following his acquittal in the iddat case.