2,000 people were arrested in the ongoing wave of arrests of his party’s workers’ claims Fawad
LAHORE, Mar 26 (SABAH): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday insisted there is no way in Pakistan except implementing the Constitution.
The PTI leader’s comments came during a press conference at the Lahore Press Club where the party’s leadership spoke about their workers being arrested ahead of Saturday’s gathering at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan.
He added that notices are being handed out by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).
Fawad Chaudhry, flanked by PTI’s Secretary General Asad Umar, claimed that 2,000 people were arrested in the ongoing wave of arrests of his party’s workers. “People are being picked and rendered missing from Lahore. Azhar Mashwani went missing. It has been three days.”
The politician asserted that there is no room for enforced disappearances in Pakistan.
Commenting on the “government’s steps to curtail the PTI’s power show” a day earlier, the PTI stalwart added that the “entire city was blocked with containers”. “The entry and exit routes of Lahore were closed,” he said.
“Those in power must know that [blocking the roads and pathways with shipping] containers cannot stop people who want true independence,” he explained, adding that fear was spread to frustrate the public meeting.
Fawad further alleged that the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government will have Pakistan added to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list again.
During the presser, the former information minister accused Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan of “operating a gang” while questioning him about his politics.
Sharing his opinion regarding the letter written by President Dr. Arif Alvi to Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the party’s senior vice-president said: “Not a single answer has been given to the question raised by the president.” Fawad said the way PM had responded to the president’s letter was enough to dawn [on people] how lowly a man he was.
The president, on Friday, wrote a letter to PM Shehbaz urging him to ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court’s orders in relation to the general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The premier, in his response, wrote to President Alvi that his letter read like a PTI press release which is “blatantly partisan in nature” and supports the Imran Khan-led party’s “one-sided and anti-government” views.
Fawad, meanwhile, said that all eyes are now on the country’s top court. He added that the government is now doing politics based on fear. “We are asking you to do your own politics and let us do ours too.”
Oil prices had decreased in the international market, he said, but they increased in Pakistan. He said politics was defined as trekking forward after looking into others’ arguments adding that the way the government was moving forward had given rise to a big crisis in the country. “You are so afraid that you are distancing yourself from elections and all eyes are on the Supreme Court”, he added.
Asad Umar, on the other hand, claimed that the people of Lahore came out despite fear, arrests and containers placed across the city.
“The coming week will be turning point in Pakistan’s history,” the PTI leader said.
Slamming the government for mishandling the country’s economy and the nation’s sufferings which have followed, Asad Umar said that people are losing their lives while queueing up to get flour.
He warned the government regarding the people’s reaction to their performance. “They know what people will do to them.”
Asad Umar said there would be no space for democracy in the country if the country was run the way it was being run adding that next week would be decisive in the country’s history. “Country has no longer a judiciary of the 1950s and everyone will see the judiciary defending the country”, he added.
He continued saying that a case was lodged against Hassaan Niazi in Lahore after being commuted to Quetta adding they [the government] were taking the country to nothing but destruction