Wednesday, 200 additional party members will officially hand themselves in along with the two leaders.
Leading party figures, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar, have offered to surrender themselves along with 200 party members tomorrow (Wednesday) to launch the “Jail Bharo Tehreek” movement, also known as the court arrest movement, according to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry.
In the initial stage of the movement, PTI Vice Chairman Qureshi and PTI Secretary General Umar “insisted” on turning themselves in to the police. However, the party leadership has decided to proceed with a unanimous strategy, Fawad stated at a press conference in Lahore alongside former economic minister Hammad Azhar.
Imran Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, first declared the initiative earlier this month after appearing to have run out of ways to urge the government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement to save it from “political victimisation.”
On February 4, the head of the PTI launched “Jail Bharo Tehreek” in response to sedition charges being brought against several of his party’s officials, including Chaudhry, Azam Swati, and Shahbaz Gill.
Fawad also applauded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly announcing that it was “ready to hold elections in 90 days.”
The statement, in his words, was “a right move in the right path.” The PTI leader added that the Election Act and the Constitution forbade any changes to the schedule of the general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which were established by President Arif Alvi and rejected by the ruling coalition.
President Alvi declared on Monday (yesterday) that elections in the two provinces would take place on April 9 one day after the ECP withdrew from discussions with him over elections in the provinces.
As the nation prepares for its impending elections, the PTI leader announced that the party would begin giving tickets to candidates as early as next week. When Khan joins the PTI in one and a half weeks, the election campaign will be at its height.
He also said that the PTI would start a national campaign to raise awareness.
Fawad stated that the head of the anti-graft body has exposed the administration by offering his resignation in reference to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) letters to the PTI leadership in the Toshakhana scam.
Aftab Sultan submitted his resignation as NAB chairman earlier today after allegedly refusing to “toe the line.”
Sultan revealed his resignation from the position to Geo News during an interview a few days earlier. “I was asked to do things that I didn’t think were appropriate.”
Khan has instructed the party to begin making plans for the 2019 elections, according to Chaudhry. He exhorted the PTI candidates to begin their campaigns in their own districts.
In reference to Khan’s appearance before the Lahore High Court (LHC) the day prior, Fawad claimed that the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government is uneasy due to the way the PTI chairman’s supporters were received.
Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Waleed Iqbal, Murad Raas, Muhammad Khan Madni, and Fawad Rasool, together with 200 employees, would voluntarily surrender themselves to the authorities in the city tomorrow, according to PTI Lahore chapter President Imtiaz Shaikh.
He stated that “Jail Bharo Tehreek” will start at 2pm from Lahore’s Charing Cross.
Elahi had criticised Fawad earlier this month but eventually reversed his criticism, saying, “We will move forward over this action in accordance with our party’s constitution.”
Hammad Azhar slams the government for destroying the “mini-budget”
In his remarks, Azhar attacked the coalition government for passing the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023.
The government’s much-needed “mini-budget” was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly the day before, which was a need for applying for a $1.1 billion tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
The former finance minister reacted to the action by saying that the measure was rammed through the NA in violation of the law and the Constitution. The PTI leader blasted Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, claiming that he had brought the nation dangerously close to economic catastrophe.
He called the IMF agreement “an attempt to prevent default.” Azhar criticised the ruling coalition for the nation’s growing inflation rate.
The PTI leader argued that “immediate elections are the only solution to instability” and urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to set a date for the elections.
The party has no choice but to use court arrest in the face of rising prices, an economic collapse, constitutional violations, and the persecution of PTI workers, according to Azhar.
