F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Despite tall claims to fill the country’s jails, neither the PTI leadership nor its workers presented voluntary arrest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa especially in Peshawar, making the Jail Bharo Tahrik merely a joke of the day.
Even the previous chief minister Mahmood Khan, KP PTI’s President Pervez Khattak, former speaker Asad Qaiser, ex Governor Shah Farman and dozens of PTI former ministers and lawmakers including Taimur Salim Jhagra, Kamran Bangash and Syed Ishtiaq Urmar did not offer their voluntary arrest to meet the PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan’s call for Jail Bharo Tahrik.
“Those, who claimed to sacrifice their lives for Imran Khan were seen afraid of even reaching close to the prisons’ vehicles despite several announcement by police to give peaceful voluntary arrest rather making agitation,” Ikhtair Wali Khan, PMLN KP spokesman and former member provincial assembly told APP on Tuesday.
He said the police was calling PTI leaders and workers through megaphone on roads and streets of Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan and other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate them in their Jail Bharo Tehrik but non of them come forward for voluntarily arrest rather kept themselves busy in taking selfies with police vehicles for social media posts.
He said that PTI’s circus company had made hectic attempts to convince and bring out the workers for Jail Bharo Tharik in these cities but failed miserably because the people of KP knew about their poor performance and hallow slogans during the last 10 years rule in the province.
Ikhtair Wali said Imran’s loyalists were chanting tall slogans for Jail Bharo Tehrik, while the families of arrested workers filed petition for their recovery within 24 hours.
He said the immature policies and u-turn of Imran Khan had pushed the country into political and economic crisis, adding it was beyond his understanding that first PTI lawmakers had resigned from the national assembly and later dissolved two provincial assemblies and now they were demanding re-election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
He said Imran Khan in order to please his dissident workers and leaders, who were unnerved after premature dissolution of KP and Punjab assemblies, has launched Jail Baharo Tahrik to get people’s attention but disappointed after the flopped show.
He said Imran Khan had left economic landmines for the coalition government after knowing that his days were numbered, adding the government was left with no viable option but to renegotiate the agreement signed by Imran Khan with the IMF.
He said that the federal government has given Rs417 billion to Khyber Pakthunkhwa in National Finance Commission Award (NFC) during the past 13 years including 10 years rule of PTI and questioned whether this huge amount was used by the PTI’s incompetent rulers.
Wali alleged the PTI government has misused these huge funds allocated for the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enhance its counter-terrorism capabilities of its organizations and today everyone was asking about its usage in the wake of the police line’s mosque bombing.
Former provincial minister and Awami National Party leader, Wajid Ali Khan has termed the announcement of Jail Baharo Tahrik just a political stunt of Imran Khan after PTI apparently had nothing left to convince its displeased political workers and leaders in the wake of immature political decisions of Imran Khan regarding dissolution of KP assembly where PTI was enjoying two third majority.
Talking to APP, he said Pakistanis knew that PTI had completely failed to serve the nation during its four-year rule in the centre and 10-year long government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the government helicopter was used by Imran Khan like a ‘rickshaw’ for personal political gains.
He said PTI workers and leaders only gathered for photo sessions and videos for posting on social media under the Jail Baharo Tahrik. The veteran politician criticized Imran Khan for enjoying all facilities at home after obtaining bail before arrest and pursuing his workers to give arrest for his so-called movement.
He said in the past Jail Bharo Movement was launched to build pressure on the government but except for movements against the dictatorship, no such movement bore concrete results rather aggravated the political and economic uncertainty in Pakistan.
Recalling the1981 and 1986 Jail Baharo Movements, he said that various political parties under the platform of the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) had staged it against President Ziaul Haq’s regime that failed to achieve its main objectives, however managed to provide support for democracy.
He said that one such movement was also launched by Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) led by its late President Qazi Hussain Ahmed against the Shaukat Aziz government in 2004 that failed to draw people’s support.
Wajid Khan recalled the Jail Bharo Movement launched by the mainstream political parties and lawyers against the emergency imposed by former President Pervez Musharraf said that it achieved its objectives in the form of restoration of sacked judges, end of house arrest of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, the release of detained political workers and later resignation by the dictator.
Except BRT project constructed on very exorbitant rates, he said PTI failed to launch any mega project in the last ten years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the billion tree project was taken over by the NAB, which exposed Imran Khan’s tall anti corruption slogans.
He said huge taxpayers’ money was wasted by the PTI’s incompetent rulers as evidence of poor planning and ill selection of plantation sites under the billion trees afforestration project, which were washed away by last year’s devastating flood in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The ANP leader said political tolerance was the need of the hour to take the country out of economic and political crisis and make Pakistan economically stronger. (APP)
