ISLAMABAD: The beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued its symbolic hunger strike for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, demanding immediate release of party founding chairman Imran Khan and other jailed party leaders and workers.
The party has set up protest camp on Constitution Avenue outside Parliament House after the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq did not allow them to hold the symbolic hunger strike inside the premises of Parliament House.
The strike started at 3pm amid scorching heat and continued till 7pm. The participants of the strike kept shouting slogans against the ruling government, accusing it of trampling democratic norms for petty political gains.
They said that the strike would continue till their demands are met, adding the imprisonment of ex-prime minister in concocted cases and harassment of workers of a democratic party are in no way justified.
Omar Ayub, the opposition leader in National Assembly, said that the way the ruling elite is running the government is a clear testimony that it is a puppet and its strings are being pulled from somewhere else – a reference to military’s meddling in civilian matters.
He said that they party would resist all undemocratic forces as it came into being as a democratic state which must be ruled by the genuinely elected representatives of people and not undemocratic forces.
He lamented the closure of PTI’s central secretariat by the Metropolitan Corporation under the pretext to not installing fire extinguishers as shameful, adding these kind of pathetic justification to penalise a democratic political party reflects their sick mentality.
Other PTI leaders also addressed the participants of the symbolic hunger strike.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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