PESHAWAR: PTI founder Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, has stated that the party will not postpone its planned demonstration for November 24.
Bushra Bibi, who typically avoids interviews and public appearances, stated in a rare video message on Thursday that there was no validity to rumors that the protest’s date had been changed.
In a video message posted on PTI’s official X handle, Mr. Khan’s spouse stated, “The protest date could only be changed on the condition that Imran Khan is released from prison and he gives a course of action to the public.”
She urged people to join the demonstration on November 24 by leaving their houses and not believing the stories.
The video message was released just hours after the Islamabad High Court declared the PTI demonstration to be “illegal” and ordered the federal government to keep the federal capital law and orderly without interfering with daily life.
A plot
Bushra Bibi also exposed the purported plot by foreign powers to overthrow her husband’s administration and accused them of being behind it in her message.
She asserted that Qamar Jawed Bajwa, the army head at the time, “started getting calls” concerning the former prime minister after Mr. Khan showed up barefoot to visit Madina.
Ms. Bibi went with Mr. Khan on the 2018–2021 visits.
“When he [Mr Khan] returned, [Gen] Bajwa started getting calls [asking] ‘who have you brought into power?'” the former first lady stated, without mentioning any nation. You have imported a supporter of Sharia, and we are removing it from this nation. We’re not interested in him.
Ms Bibi alleged that her husband never made this matter public and said Gen Bajwa and his family should be questioned about this. The former general has disputed the accusations, according to a number of media sources on Thursday night. Her assertions also caused a lot of worry in party circles, with many claiming that her comments may undermine existing backchannel operations.
Additionally, Mr. Khan’s husband urged law enforcement and the police to “not go overboard” in their treatment of the party’s nonviolent demonstrators.
She claimed her husband was being confined in a “cramped space” for more than a year and wondered if it was not the obligation of lawyers and judges to provide justice to her spouse.
Nonviolent demonstration
PTI leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar expressed a similarly belligerent tone, claiming that the party had “pitched itself against the establishment” and promising to hold the protest on the designated date.
Mr. Bhachar, the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, declared, “We have a Plan B, Plan C, and even Plan D to prove that November 24 is a final call from the party founder Imran Khan.”
Speaking at a press conference held at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday, Mr. Bhachar threatened that if the government employed force against the demonstrators, there would be a “re-enactment of May 9” bloodshed.
Although “we cannot give any guarantee to stay peaceful,” he claimed that the PTI has organized a nonviolent demonstration in Islamabad.
He stated that the ruling coalition “had no power, and the PTI could not enter into dialogue with pawns” in reference to discussions with the government.
The PTI representative asserted that access to Lahore and other towns was already being blocked by the government.
