Thousands arrested in Punjab during PTI march: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman and former Foreign Affairs minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday apprised PA Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the obstacles the government created for the PTI Azadi March.

Talking to media after a meeting with Pervaiz Elahi and Moonis Elahi along with his son Zain Qureshi at the former’s residence here, Qureshi said the KP government never deprived people of their constitutional rights while the Punjab did this. 

Thousands of people were arrested in 36 districts of Punjab during the PTI march, he said, adding that Rana Sanaullah was pretending that there were no people. If there were no people, why barricades were set up? The nation knew who the antagonist was. The opposition alliance was formed to remove Imran Khan, not to give relief to people. 

This government had no vision, the prices of essential commodities had risen up and it had became difficult for people to live, he said and added that elections were the only way out to get the country out of whirlpool.

He said every institution should think of Pakistan’s interests. Respecting the courts and institutions, Imran Khan did not call for a sit-in, but it might not be possible for him to stop the enthusiasm of his workers. The barbarism of Rana Sanaullah would not be able to suppress the struggle for real freedom of people.

Pervaiz Elahi said the PTI should immediately announce its candidates for by-elections. He said: “We will support Imran Khan to bring PTI dissidents to justice. The institutions have to play their role in preventing the catastrophe facing the country. Judicial decisions will be a turning point in Pakistan’s politics. The present government has failed to control inflation. The claimants of good governance now show us how to control inflation and load-shedding. Pakistan belongs to all of us. Every Pakistani must come out for real freedom.”

He said the so-called child Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz’s election and oath were not valid in constitutional and legal ways. He was ruling the province, propped up by police and the chief secretary. The child ruler mistreated women during the PTI march. Policemen’s presence in the Punjab Assembly was not a trivial matter. The policemen would be summoned in accordance with the law and sacked with four months’ imprisonment. He said the Commonwealth and UN secretaries had condemned the police brutality in the Punjab Assembly and demanded a report from the PA secretary.