LAHORE – PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday announced the launch of his party’s “Jail Bharo” movement from next week in what appears a last ditch to put pressure on the government for holding elections in the country.
He made the announcement while addressing the nation as uncertainty hangs over the holding of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the “court arrest” drive will be launched from Lahore on Wednesday.
“They [government] are trying to frighten us from jails. we will fill the prisons by offering our arrest and they will run out of space,” he said.
The PTI chief on Feb 4 had announced to launch the movement in a protest to the sedition cases were registered against his party leaders, including Fawad Chaudhry, Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill.
Reacting to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s recent comments in the Supreme Court , he said it was dangerous that the ECP chief had expressed inability on holding elections in the provinces.
He maintained that the elections, as per the Constitution, should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assemblies. It is recalled that Punjab Assembly was dissolved on Jan 14 while KP Assembly was disbanded on Feb 18.
“The caretaker government and the interim chief ministers would be illegal on the 91st day,” Khan added.
He said no disaster could be bigger than that when the judiciary was failed to ensure the implementation of the Constitution. He said the PDM governments had been imposed on the country as it lacked mandate.
He also hit out at the government for announcing the mini-budget, adding that it would trigger the inflation in the country. He said the government had made it difficult for a common man to survive by jacking up the prices of routine commodities.
The PTI chief said it seemed that institutions were under pressure as they were unable to take action against the government that is running away from elections.
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