Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that his party has no alliance with Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of Dr Tahirul Qadri but after brutal Lahore incident it will stand by it. Talking to a selected group of journalists here, he called upon all the democratic forces to raise a voice against the government as Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government has crossed all the limits of decency by beating up innocent people which resulted in killing of 11 persons in Lahore.
"I would like to make it clear that we've no alliance with PAT but the fascistic manner in which the Punjab police along with PML-N goons attacked unarmed people, we'll stand by Dr Qadri against this brutality and the PTI calls on all democratic forces to do the same," Imran maintained.
The PTI will always support strengthening of democracy, he said, adding despite total failure of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in giving leadership to dialogue for peace and despite his failure to give leadership to the military operation, the PTI stands by the government despite reservations. He continued that the PTI even postponed its public meeting in Bahawalpur in view of the military operation, yet the PML-N seemed to have misread these gestures. Given this undemocratic behaviour of the PML-N government, he added, the PTI will gather all democratic forces together to challenge the Sharifs' fascism.
Khan said that there should be no doubt that the PML-N has come to power through the biggest electoral fraud in our history and hence is petrified of our street movement which is what they were trying to suppress through Nazi-style terrorisation of unarmed people.
The PTI has now decided to hold its public meeting in Bahawalpur on 27 June and Khan said he would give time lines on its demand for opening up the four constituencies for thumbprint verification. The Election Tribunals were supposed to take four months to provide justice but they failed totally, pushing us to take to the streets. Now, if the government fails to respond then it, along with the ECP, will be responsible for the consequences of not giving us our constitutional right of seeking justice.
DRONE ATTACKS Central Information Secretary PTI, Shireen Mazari in statement issued here on Thursday reiterated the PTI's opposition to US drone strikes which are illegal, adding under international law, including international humanitarian law and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
She said it appeared as if they are now being done with the complicity of the PML-N government which is shameful. Mazari demanded the Prime Minister to explain why there had been no statement from his government demanding the US to stop the drone attacks. The Foreign Office had issued its usual meaningless statement to the effect that they have a negative impact on regional stability, adding the government's total lack of concern for the innocent civilians of FATA was reflected in their casual attitude towards drone killings as well as failure to have a proper humanitarian structure in place to receive the massive flow of IDPs from NWA.
She said that keeping the KP government in the dark on the military operation despite the fact that the KP would have to and now is bearing the brunt of the fallout of this operation on all fronts. The military operation started before the proper evacuation of the civilian population which reflects the callousness of the PML-N government. Even worse is the continuing inability of the federal government to provide a proper support infrastructure for the outflow of IDPs.
Mazari said the PM's casual approach to the military operation is reflected in his departure for yet another foreign jaunt a day after the operation commenced. She demanded the government ensure the US halts its drone strikes as these also damage the ongoing military operation in NWA. The PTI had opposed drone strikes on principle from the start and continues to oppose their use today. That is why it took action to stop Nato supplies as a means of halting drone strikes and that worked. Drone strikes ended but the PMLN government failed to follow up and ensure a permanent end to these illegal strikes.
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