Inflation, poverty have broken people’s back, Imran’s time has ended: Shehbaz

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Opposition leader in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has said price-hike and poverty have broken the back of people.

However, he added, the end of [Prime Minister] Imran Khan had arrived now. He was addressing a public gathering here on Sunday, in connection with the ongoing Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) protest movement against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

The PDM chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing the public rally, warned that people would take to the streets and agitate if their votes were stolen in elections.

Shehbaz Sharif said people were currently passing through the worst condition due to inflation, adding that the prices of medicines had been increased by 400 per cent.

He said that today there is a record increase in unemployment and inflation, asking that who used to say that if the dollar is expensive, then the premier is a thief. “I have come to my home in DG Khan. I had visited every corner of south Punjab when the area was flooded due to heavy rains and thousands of homes had drowned in the area.

“At the time of adversity in this area, we distributed billions of rupees among the poor people. When there was a lot of hardship, we rehabilitated South Punjab. At that time the price of fertilizer was Rs1,200, but today it is Rs2,400, Shehbaz recounted his services in the area, adding that his government in Punjab established Danish Schools, DG Khan Medical College, RYK University under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. He said good times were coming and he would make South Punjab better than central Punjab and if he failed then his name should be changed.

Shehbaz said the Transparency International had stated that corruption had been on the rise in the Imran Khan government. He said the time of ending the Imran Khan government had arrived.

He predicted that the sugar prices would be increased by Rs420 per kilogram if Prime Minister Imran would remain in power. He said inflation was 3.5 per cent in the Nawaz Sharif government, but now it had been increased by more than 14 per cent.

The PML-N president said that the fact that people turned up in large numbers for the PDM rally testified that it was time for the Imran Khan government to go home.

He said people needed to get rid of the government if they wanted to overcome inflation. “Petrol and electricity [prices] are falling on people like bombs. People must take to the streets now,” he said.

He said sugar, flour, ghee, and medicine prices were going up under the Khan government and would further increase if he were allowed to continue. Addressing the PDM rally, Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the PTI government was initially illegal, but now it had proved itself as incompetent too.

He said the countries and states had been removed from the map of the world which became financially weak. He said people would take to the streets if votes would be stolen in the elections. He said the Imran government had rendered jobless at least three million people, though he had promised giving employment to the youth.

The leadership of other parties included in the opposition alliance PDM also addressed the rally and criticised the PTI government.

Meanwhile, rallies against inflation and joblessness were staged by the PDM in different cities of the country. Major rallies were staged in Okara, Chunian and other Punjab cities, and people participated while chanting slogans against Prime Minister Imran Khan and demanding new elections.