LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday kicked off its protest movement against soaring inflation and economic meltdown from Dera Ghazi Khan, which would continue till January 16.
“These protests were scheduled to be held in different cities of Punjab on different days and would be led by the PTI MNAs in their constituencies. It would continue until the coalition government was sent home,” said Punjab Chief Minister and Punjab Government Spokesperson Musarrat Jamshaid Cheema in a statement issued here.
The decision to launch the protest-cum-movement was made by PTI Chairman Imran Khan during a meeting with the senior party leaders and it was expected that he would be joining his supporters in the protest after three weeks to announce his next plan of action. As per the details shared by the spokesperson, on Saturday similar protests would be held in Gujranwala while on Sunday protest rallies will be held in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi.
PTI to launch protest against price hike today
In Sialkot, Attock and Jehlum, the protest rallies will be held on January 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The PTI will also take out the rallies against the price hike in Sahiwal on January 5, in Dera Ghazi Khan on January 6, in Sheikhupura on January 7, in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi on January 8, in Sialkot on January 9, in Gujrat on January 10, in Jhelum on January 11 in Gujranwala on January 12, in Sahiwal on January 13, in Bahawalpur on January 14, in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi on January 15, and in Sargodha on January 16.
Cheema said the people were angry over a conspiracy of filing false cases against their Chairman; “they will not allow any such conspiracy against the leader of the largest party of the federation”. She was optimistic about seeing a huge turnout in the protest on the call of the PTI Chairman. “During the protest movement, pressure will be increased on the federal government to hold immediate general elections,” she added.
She also said that a conspiracy to bring an unconstitutional technocrat government would be exposed, adding that decisions made in closed rooms regarding the future of Pakistan would invite a strong reaction. She warned that the people will never accept a technocratic government. “The imported government wants to avoid the elections and hence it was floating the idea of a technocratic government,” she added. She observed that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have further decreased to US$5.8 billion and accused Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and coalition parties of looting more than US$10 billion in just 8 months.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022