PTI unveils protest plan ‘Hakumat Hatao Mulk Bachao’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s central leadership unveiled the plan for holding protest demonstrations in Islamabad during the month of Ramadan.

The planned demonstrations in Islamabad are part of PTI’s “Hakumat Hatao Mulk Bachao.”

This was announced during a press conference at the party’s Central Secretariat here Friday.

The press conference was addressed by Akbar S. Babar, Vice President, Information and Media along with Mr. Zahid Kazmi, Media Advisor to the Chairman, and Col. (Rtd.) Yunus, CEC member.

On every Saturday in the month of Ramadan, the PTI would hold demonstrations in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad. The protest would start after Iftari and Tarawi prayers to be observed at the site of the demonstration. A series of events have been planned including speeches by prominent civil society members, politicians, taranas, and political skits by prominent artists.

The PTI Chief Imran Khan would be present during the entire protest proceedings. At the last weekend of Ramadan, the PTI Chairman would announce the final stage of the Hakumat Hatao Mulk Bachao movement with a deadline to the government to either resign or be forced out through people power.

The PTI leaders urged civil society members, lawyers, doctors, labor, and women groups to fully participate in the protests and urged them to establish contact with the party’s central secretariat for coordination.

The Central PTI leaders stated that the country cannot afford the continuation of the present government in power. Governance has all but collapsed. The government stands in violation of at least 15 verdicts of the Supreme Court. The reported resignation of the State Bank Governor for refusing to finance the wasteful expenditure of the government through deficit financing is another blow to investor confidence.

The so called opposition is merely relying on political gimmickry and has failed to effectively provide real opposition to the government’s loot and plunder in the country. The grand opposition alliance initiative of the PML(N) has fizzled out due to complete distrust of PML(N)’s real intentions which has so far only provided political cruthes to the PPP government.

The political parties are reluctant to join the grand alliance as the PML(N) on previous occasions has dumped their allies by seeking power through deals such as the NRO, withdrawing from the APDM boycott of elections at the last moment despite solemn promises, hijacking of the judges movement, and failure to provide real opposition to the government.

They said that the intellectual bankruptcy of the opposition can be judged from its latest initiative to provide 20,000 yellow cabs to educated youth while bogus degree holders sit in parliament enjoying the fruits of power.

The PTI Central Leaders stated that the overwhelming positive response to the PTI’s 100 day plan from opinion makers is evidence that the PTI is the only option left for Pakistan to extricate it from the internal and external challenges.

They said that the suspension of US military assistance to Pakistan at a time when 150,000 of our troops are deployed in FATA at the US behest is another indication that our war on terror policy has failed. On the one hand the government claims that it is our war and yet the defense minister claims that suspension of US military assistance would force the government to redeploy troops from FATA.

The PTI Leaders stated that the crisis of governance and leadership has reached a boiling point and the only way forward for the democratic process to continue is through early elections. Elections can only be free and fair if held under a neutral caretaker government set up with the blessings of the superior judiciary and an independent election commission based on NADRA electoral rolls.

Copyright NNI (News Network International), 2011