Press Release
Vancouver (August 12, 2008): The Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, addressed public at a dinner (about 500+ participants) meeting in Vancouver. The dinner was attended by various political leaders from British Columbia, Intelligentsia, men-who-matter, and general public. Mr. Imran Khan shed light on variety of subjects including Namal College, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf role & history, Current situation in Pakistan, origin & solution for Terrorism, and role of Pakistani-Canadian in the situation in Pakistan. Chairman was very warmly welcomed by a jubilant and enthusiastic crowd. Due to Chairman's commitment to leave for Pakistan, unfortunately, people were still left with thirst and desire to talk & meet with Imran Khan. Looking at the eagerness, enthusiasm, and emotions of the crowd, chairman committed to come to Vancouver again but urged the PTI team to focus on membership drive in order to support the mainstream in Pakistan. He brought up the idea of contributing $10 per month and target 5000 people by end of this year.
Commenting on current situation he highlighted that impeachment of General Musharraf was merely a smoke screen and yet another trick by PPP Co-Chairman Mr. Asif Ali Zardari. He mentioned the first and the far most thing that should have been pursued by the Government should have been restoration of Judiciary who then would have taken care of the unconstitutional president. Chairman mentioned that by calling the parliamentary vote on impeachment, the coalition is acknowledging Musharraf as a legal president.
Imran Khan congratulated the Vancouver coordinator Naveed Bin Anwar and his organizing team of the function, for conducting such a successful show. At the end of Chairman's speech, people reckoning the fact that Chairman has to leave early, overwhelmingly surrounded chairman for pictures and autographs. PTI organizers and security team did a great job and escorted the chairman to the Air Port a little earlier than planned in order to avoid any unpleasant security or safety issue. Therefore, Chairman was not able to thank the local Pakistani-Canadian business/cultural leadership. However, Liberal Party of Canada, Conservative Party of Canada, NDP, Pakistan Canada Association, Radio India, Red FM, Channel M, Friends of Pakistan, MLAs, MPs, Senators, and City Government officials from Surrey - all personally came forward to congratulate PTI team on such a wonderful show and unanimously declared that Vancouver has not seen such a passionate, decent, participated event of this scale before.
Looking at the response, Mr. Chairman also mentioned that Coordinator Mr. Naveed Bin Anwar and his team now must focus on getting the membership drive ($10 a month) galloping in order to cash this overwhelming response which was very encouraging that will boost moral of the party members. He told the audience that PTI needs at least 5000 international members who would pay $10/month fee which would enable the party to establish its offices in all districts of Pakistan. He further added that in October, he will embark on a 3-months tour through out the country on a membership campaign and to organize party at the grass root level.
Earlier, the Chairman had a speech and Q&A session at Pakistan House in Surrey addressing Pakistani-Canadian business and political community. He was warmly welcomed by the whole community leadership and was assured a strong support from Vancouver community in future.
Chairman departed for Islamabad from Vancouver around mid-night to conclude his highly successful tour of North America where not only significant amount of funds were raised for the party but also decent crowds were drawn in all the functions and events that will go a long way with growth in party popularity amongst expatriate Pakistanis. Video and Pictures of Chairman’s trip will be made available on PK Politics (pkpolitics.com) , You Tube (youtube.com) , and PTI (insaf.pk) websites very soon.
