Screengrab of the PTI chief’s speech
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday announced its long march on Islamabad will resume from Wazirabad on Thursday (Nov. 10), and not the earlier announced Tuesday or Wednesday, as party workers continued protesting in various cities over the gun assault on Imran Khan that left one person dead and over a dozen others injured.
PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a press conference in Lahore on Monday morning that the long march would resume from Wazirabad on Tuesday (today), as had been announced by the PTI chief a day earlier. Within a few hours, PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain wrote on Twitter that the march’s resumption had now been moved to Wednesday (Nov. 9). This was amended once again, this time by PTI Senator Faisal Javed, who said it would now resume from Wazirabad on Nov. 10 (Thursday) at 2 p.m.
According to sources within the PTI, the party is aiming to gather a large crowd of locals at Wazirabad for the resumption of the long march and has instructed regional leaders to ensure maximum participation for its success under the leadership of Qureshi.
Meanwhile, PTI activists staged protests in various cities across Pakistan, also blocking two motorways leading into Islamabad with an apparent aim to blockade the federal capital. In Punjab capital Lahore, a gathering was organized at Governor’s House, while the bulk of the demonstrations were focused on Rawalpindi. Motorists and the general public have complained of the traffic snarls caused by the PTI’s protests—especially in light of police facilitating the protesters and refusing to ensure the free flow of traffic—with reports of ambulances being prevented from transporting ailing patients and children being forced to walk miles to return home from school due to the absence of any viable transport options.