ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed that he will not allow the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to repeat what it did through its 2014 sit-in.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has time and again blamed the PTI for compromising Pakistan’s economy as Chinese President Xi Jinping had cancelled his visit to Islamabad due to the 126-day-long dharna.
Currently, as the main opposition party’s protests take place in the federal capital, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) head of states’ summit is set to take place on October 15 and 16.
Top officials from China, Russia, India, and other nations who are part of the regional organisation will attend the conference — in Islamabad’s Red Zone — and if a protest is going on in the capital, it will pose a security threat.
“I will not allow the repeat of 2014 […] the conspiracy that took place. We will not allow this, we will not tolerate this at all. This is my promise to the nation,” the prime minister told his cabinet members on Tuesday.
The PTI has said that it is protesting for the “independence of the judiciary” and the release of its founder Imran Khan. The party leaders have said that they will not step back unless the former prime minister asks them.
PM Shehbaz, while slamming the opposition party, said that the PTI had done nothing except create chaos and divide the nation. He said neither did the party bring back money to the country while it was in power nor did it end corruption — claims that were part of its election manifesto.
