LAHORE: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Friday held a demonstration on The Mall to protest against “infrastructure development at the cost of social sector”.

Led by opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rashid, PTI lawmakers reached Charing Cross in front of the assembly building to oppose re-construction and repair of The Mall and transfer of Rs1 billion funds allocated for graveyards in the budget to the Metro train project.

Traffic remained suspended on one of the main City arteries during the protest.

Mr Rashid lamented that the Punjab government was setting its priorities wrong by using funds at projects where these were not needed, at least for now. He said that patches of The Mall were being repaired and green belts re-constructed though these were in good condition, while many city localities were deprived of drinking water and other basic civic amenities.

He claimed that the government also got transferred over Rs1 billion funds to the Orange Line Metro train project which had originally been allocated for graveyards in the budget.

He said that the rulers were bent upon constructing roads and bridges while not a single hospital or school had been established in the provincial metropolis during the last 20 years.

He threatened to continue the protest if the government did not return the funds within three days.

Meanwhile, PTI MPA Naheed Naeem has submitted a resolution with the Punjab Assembly to seek widening of the Ravi bridge.

Through another resolution by MPA Sibtain Khan, the government has been urged to develop cardiology wards equipped with all the latest machinery at all state-run hospitals in the province for reducing patients load on the Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

Kissan Package: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) fears the rulers will use the “Kissan Package” to rig the upcoming local government elections. It has also objected to the Punjab government’s move to buy new vehicles worth Rs2 billion from the package.

In a statement, PTI Punjab organiser Chaudhry Sarwar said on Friday the Punjab rulers were using police to harass their political opponents, adding that the PTI was fighting a war to bring about change in the status quo. Rejecting rumours about fissures in the party, he said the PTI was united under the leadership of Imran Khan and there was no grouping in the party.

Stating that no one else could express sympathies for farmers more than the PTI, he said that his party was the first to stage protests and organise conventions for the rights of farmers. Now, he said, the PTI was protesting against the Kissan package because the rulers were going to use this package to rig the local government elections.

He said the PTI was collecting proof about irregularities committed in the Lahore by-election and added that the proof would be presented before the nation to expose the PML-N’s mindset.

Also, PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan said his opponent Ayaz Sadiq in the recent NA-122 by-elections would again be disqualified from the National Assembly speaker slot, if he was sworn in. He said the PTI had started preparing the list of voters imported from other constituencies and cities. He claimed that hundreds of fake votes were being identified in the NA-122 constituency.

He also claimed that over 10,000 fake votes were also polled in the PP-147 constituency and proof would be presented to the Election Commission Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2015

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