ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Omar Ayub on Monday reiterated his party’s stance that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ‘selected’ regime would not be able to ensure judicious utilisation of the borrowed money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking at a presser along with PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen, he said that “the illegitimate and unconstitutional” government would waste the loan being taken from IMF as it has no moral authority to take much-needed tough and corrective decisions to appropriately utilise the fund.

He recalled that an IMF delegation had visited PTI founding chairmanlast year, during which he told the delegation that they could sign the agreement for the betterment of Pakistan.

“But, Imran Khan told the IMF team that the February 8 elections should be held within its time under the law and constitution which was missing in the recently held elections,” he added.

Omar lamented that former first lady Bushra Bibi has been restricted to a tiny room in Banigala and the issue of her food is yet to be resolved despite court’s orders.

“I would like to make it clear that Bushra Bibi should not be viewed as Imran Khan’s weakness rather she is his strength. She must be provided all the facilities which the law and the constitution allow,” he maintained.

He reiterated that the top most priority of the PTI leadership is to ensure early release of PTI leadership including Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Elahi, and others.

He lambasted the government for unabashedly gaging the social media especially blockade of X in the country for the last so many days to curtail freedom of expression and digital rights of citizens online.

He said that Pakistan could not make progress without social media in this modern era, demanding restoration of the social media sites without any obstruction and blockage.

He also came down hard on Punjab government for unleashing a reign of terror on peaceful protestors against theft of the public mandate, demanding the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the situation.

He accused Punjab Police of illegally detaining over 100 party workers in various cases of serious nature including terrorism on the directives of “fake” Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz.

He said that PTI secured 180 National Assembly seats but the party candidates’ victory converted into defeat through massive rigging and results manipulation, adding that February 8 results were tampered and changed on February 9 fraudulently.

He vowed that they would exercise all options including judiciary, parliament, and holding peaceful protests within the ambit of the law and constitution to get back the stolen seats from “mandate thieves”.

About presidential elections, he said that the presidential elections were illegal, as Asif Ali Zardari was elected from an incomplete house.

“Zardari is sick and his health condition doesn’t allow him to take this serious responsibility,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024