Rallies to be held as per schedule, says Rana Sanaullah

LAHORE: PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah has termed 2021 the year of general elections and said that now there is no need for local body elections in the country including in Punjab.

Talking to media here on Thursday, he said the opposition will not negotiate with the government on any issue including electoral reforms because in response to the offer of the Charter of Economy, “we have been called thieves and robbers for two and a half years”. During a visit to the party secretariat in Model Town, he said that regarding electoral reforms, Gilgit-Baltistan province and economic situation, Shahbaz Sharif had offered a charter to the prime minister in the National Assembly, but he rejected this offer. “Then we were called thieves and dacoits.” The opposition is not ready to sit with this selected prime minister, he said.

The Anti-corruption Establishment has started harassing “our workers at the level of union council”, he claimed and announced that rallies in Peshawar and Multan will be held. After that, there will be a rally in Lahore on December 13. He said the government propaganda has failed. During the rally in Gujranwala, it was said that the government is using corona for its own political purposes. Where the opposition rallies take place, corona runs away, he said. If corona spreads from rallies, first there should be a smart lockdown in Gujranwala from where corona spread after the PDM rally. If the government is not able to tolerate peaceful rallies of the opposition, what will happen to them in the second phase, he maintained. The indications of a sugar inquiry made by FIA Officer Sajjad Bajwa pointed finger to the federal cabinet.

Therefore, he was removed and the inquiry was stopped. In 2021, there will be general elections with the efforts of the PDM. “We don’t need the permission of the government for the Lahore rally,” he said, adding: “We have told the CCPO if we were prevented from holding a rally, there would be rallies all over Lahore. The Islamabad High Court did not ban the rally but asked us to be careful,” he concluded.