LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to launch a countrywide protest against inflation and economic meltdown from Friday (today) and its Chairman Imran would join the protest after three weeks to announce his next plan of action.
While addressing the media here on Thursday, PTI Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry said that it would be a protest-cum-movement, which would continue until the coalition government was sent home; “the decision to launch the movement was made by PTI Chairman Imran Khan during a meeting of senior party leaders.
The former Prime Minister will be among his supporters in the protest after three weeks,” he added.
He revealed that these protests would be led by the PTI MNAs in their constituencies and would continue in every city. He urged the people to join the protest and voice their concerns.
He reiterated that there was no room for a technocrat government in Pakistan and the people would not accept it at all; “there was no provision in the Constitution for a technocrat government and thus elections were the only way out”.
“The incumbent rulers were so scared of elections that they have accepted the option of a technocrat regime,” he added.
“We warn everyone, including the establishment, to think twice before making any such move. All their schemes and ideas of the past eight months have failed badly. Any such plan would meet the same fate, as the people of Pakistan were not ready to accept anything beyond the Constitution of Pakistan,” he maintained. He warned that they should not treat Pakistan as a “lab rat” and just focus on the fresh elections, he warned.
Talking about the Punjab Assembly, he maintained that they have a majority in the House and thus have the right to dissolve the Punjab Assembly at any time.
He claimed that some of their provincial legislators were offered bribes in the form of foreign trips in exchange for abstaining from the vote of confidence.
“They should rest assured, we will defeat horse trading by securing the vote of confidence and subsequently move toward dissolution,” he added.
To a question on the resignations of PTI MNAs, Chaudhary said that the party would not accept individual verification; “no PTI MNA was ready to be a part of the current assembly”.
“We have decided to approach the Supreme Court for a solution to this problem,” he added.
He also disclosed that during a meeting between the PTI chief and the senators, the inhuman treatment of Senator Azam Swati came under discussion, adding that Swati was being kept in jail in violation of the law and rules.
“On coming Monday, the PTI will hold a protest outside the building where Swati was kept,” he added.
He maintained that the Senator had rightly expressed his concerns, adding that he (Swati) was a victim of the worst kind of human rights violation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022