LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday decided to challenge the Punjab Defamation Act 2024 in court.

This announcement was made by Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar, the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, in a statement.

Commenting on the Punjab government’s performance, Bhachar said that turning the Punjab Defamation Act 2024 into law and compounding problems for the farmers by not purchasing wheat from them were the Punjab government’s achievements in its first 100 days of governance.

The PTI leader also slammed the PPP, saying that it claimed to be a democratic party, but allegedly facilitated the signing of the defamation act into law.

According to Bhachar, both the PML-N and PPP were two sides of the same coin.

The PTI leader said that his party stood with the journalist fraternity and would challenge the defamation law in court.

Bhachar said that the Punjab government announced Rs 30 billion for the establishment of a cancer hospital, but allocated funds of just Rs 300 million which, according to him, were insufficient even for a stretch of five-kilometre road.

He further said that health cards and farmer cards were projects of the PTI, but the PML-N was presenting them as their own.

Bhachar questioned whether the PML-N had actually initiated any projects, adding that the Punjab government was merely placing their plaques on projects in hospitals that had originally been launched by the PTI.

He stated that the Punjab government also renamed the farmer card as the Nawaz Sharif card. The opposition leader asserted that taking action against the PTI was the PML-N’s overall consideration.

Bhachar said that his party has demanded a 10 percent increase in the wages of government employees, noting a 25 percent increase in inflation in the past three months.