ISLAMABAD: The ex-prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday alleged that “the imported regimes of the father-son duo” in the Centre and Punjab – respectively – are making all-out efforts to rig the by-polls in Punjab in connivance with the chief election commissioner (CEC), Sikander Sultan Raja.
Addressing a workers’ convention in Rawalpindi, he said Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were moving from pillar to post to rig Punjab by-elections so that they could prolong their rule in the province.
“They are desperate to get an NRO-II, but as long as the PTI is there, we will chase them until the people are completely freed from their hooliganism,” Khan declared.
He asked the PTI workers to get ready for his next march call, saying they must create awareness about the sensitivity of the ongoing crisis in the country.
Earlier in the day, he while addressing PTI’s executive council meeting, urged party workers to go door-to-door and ‘preach’ people about the party’s upcoming long march.
“Go door-to-door and Tableegh... don’t do politics. Make people realise the meaning of La IlahaIllallah,” he maintained.
Khan directed the party workers to get ready for the long march onto Islamabad as he would give the call to come to the capital soon.
Talking about his last attempt at long march, he said those who threw tear gas shells and used violence against protesters were involved in oppression.
“Nobody does such a thing on its own people... it should not be done even to your opponents. We see such actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian regime,” he said and urged the people to break the shackles of fear and slavery and join the movement.
He said it was the right of the people to protest peacefully in a democracy. However, he said, that right was being snatched by the imported regime, adding, “One of our workers was thrown from Ravi Bridge and he died during the last long march”.
Lashing out at the government for taking measures which would result in increasing inflation, Khan said that “now everyone knows the current government did not come to reduce inflation.”
“Electricity now costs Rs10 per unit more compared to our tenure and they are going to increase more. Diesel and petrol tariffs have been raised by Rs60. The dollar is being sold at Rs206 which is an all-time high in Pakistan. Rs700 billion has vanished from Pakistan Stock Exchange,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022