• Khawaja Asif says PTI’s civil disobedience call will fail. 
• Accuses former ruling party of “fanning provincialism”.
• Ayub demands judicial inquiry into Nov 26 crackdown. 

Castigating the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership for “running away from Islamabad and leaving behind workers and supporters”, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has challenged the former ruling party to stand firm on its newly-announced civil disobedience movement after failed attempts to “attack” the capital.

“I challenge them [PTI] that their civil disobedience call will fail […] no one will burn their utility bills,” the PML-N leader said while speaking on the National Assembly floor on Monday.

Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan — in a post on X — had warned the government of launching a “civil disobedience” movement if his demands — judicial inquiry of the May 9, 2023, riots and November 26 crackdown on PTI protesters and release of its “political prisoners” — are not met.

The ousted prime minister also constituted a five-member negotiation committee comprising Omar Ayub Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Salman Akram Raja and Asad Qaiser.

The committee, he said, would negotiate with the federal government on two points — the release of “political prisoners” facing trial and the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the events of May 9, 2023 and a late-night crackdown on PTI protesters on November 26.

The PTI’s much-hyped protest in Islamabad, aimed at securing the PTI founder’s release who has been behind bars for more than a year, culminated in the party’s hasty retreat after the government’s midnight crackdown on the protesters.

Responding to the PTI’s allegations regarding the late-night crackdown, the defence minister — in today’s speech — said none of the relatives of 12 protesters, which the former ruling party claimed were killed, came forward.

“Levelling such allegations without evidence is an insult to collective consciousness,” he added.

He noted that the PTI has been affected by internal divisions with every leader giving a separate statement. “Even Bushra Bibi [the wife of PTI founder] said that the PTI leaders ran away and abandoned her.”

Furthermore, he said, the PTI workers also attacked the vehicle of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, when he tried to “run away”. “It’s also on record that Gandapur’s guards fired shots at the workers.”

“For the third time, their [PTI] assault on Islamabad failed. Now they have announced a civil disobedience movement,” he said, noting that the party had also given the same call ten years ago — when Imran burned the utility bills on the container during 2014’s sit-in.

Asif said that no one “answered their call then and no one will now”, challenging the Imran-Khan founded party to maintain its stance on the movement. “They [PTI] will get a reality check on how many Pakistanis are on their side.”

He also accused the PTI of fanning provincialism, saying that it was former dictator Ayub Khan who was primarily responsible for the creation of Bangladesh and now his descendants were playing “a provincial card”.

“First serve your province and deliver and then talk about provincialism,” he said, slamming the PTI for fueling hatred and creating division.

‘Why bullets were fired’

Speaking on the NA floor, Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub lambasted the authorities over “straight firing at the peaceful protesters” of the former ruling party during a late-night crackdown on November 26.

“Our 12 workers were killed […] we want to know why peaceful protesters were shot at,” he said, adding that 200 workers were missing and over 5,000 party members were arrested.

He claimed that PTI’s peaceful protest had not caused any destruction. “Not a single pot was broken during the protest. The coming generations will keep asking why bullets were fired,” he added.

Ayub also demanded the formation of an impartial judicial commission to investigate why peaceful protesters were fired upon. “The blood of Model Town and November 26 is on [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif’s hand,” he added.