Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday asserted that he would announce his future course of action in his party’s nationwide protest against rising inflation today (Sunday).
Chairing a meeting of his party spokespersons, the former premier said the incumbent rulers had increased the burden on the people of Pakistan by rising petrol prices.
“These people don’t care about the underprivileged class,” he said, reiterating that the PTI would not tolerate ‘oppression’ on the people of Pakistan. “Oppression and force cannot stop the people from raising their voices,” he added. “The events of last two months have fully revealed the motives of each character of the conspiracy,” he added.
During the meeting, the PTI chairman congratulated the members, especially former energy minister Hammad Azhar, on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announcement regarding removing the country from the grey list after an on-site visit.
Talking about the rising prices in the country, Imran said the PTI shielded the nation from global inflation. “The current government does not care about the people or the future of the country,” he said, adding that the “situation will be out of control if the economy was destabilised”.
He claimed that the “coalition government is putting the future of the nation at stake just to save” itself, and alleged that the government was destroying institutions to remain in power. The meeting also discussed the devastation of economy by the ‘imported’ government and condemned the harassment of citizens on the social media.
The participants also condemned the government’s decision to cut Rs21 billion budget of the tribal districts and expressed concern over reports of 5 million citizens of tribal districts being deprived of health cards.
Meanwhile, Imran postponed his pre-scheduled visit to Lahore due to the countrywide protest on Saturday.
According to reports, the former premier was supposed to address a PTI workers’ convention in the city regarding by-elections. During his stay in Lahore, he was also supposed to meet PTI candidates for the upcoming by-polls. On the other hand, former information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain called the people in big cities, including Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, to protest against “high inflation and lawlessness”. Taking to Twitter, Fawad asked people to protest at Shah Abbas Chowk in Multan, Ghanta Ghar Chowk in Faisalabad, Commercial Market in Rawalpindi, F-9 Park in Islamabad, Liberty Chowk in Lahore, and Shahrah-e-Qaideen in Karachi. He urged the people to protest with their families against the rising prices of fuel.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz said Imran was protesting against himself.
In a Twitter post, Maryam said that the current government had to face issues because of Imran.
“[Imran] Khan used to say that he didn’t [become prime minister to] know the rate of potato and onion, [and now] he has suddenly [started] thinking about everything,” Maryam said in a tweet in Urdu.
